Long queues continue at Slovenia-Croatia border crossings as controls tighten

Long queues of traffic at the main Slovenian-Croatian border crossings continued on Saturday, one day after the decree tightening controls on the EU's borders took effect.

About 2-kilometre tailback has formed on the Ljubljana-Zagreb motorway at the Obrezje border crossing, where cars wait two and a half hours to enter Croatia while buses wait as much as four and a half hours and lorries two hours, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA).

In the other direction from Zagreb to Ljubljana, cars wait one hour and 30 minutes, while buses and lorries wait two hours, the STA said, adding that Sunny weather and the start of holidays in Austria and Bavaria only add to the increased traffic.

At the other border control of Gruskovje, cars also wait two and a half hours to cross the border, while other crossings have waiting times between 30 minutes and one hour.

As of Friday, all member states of the European Union (EU) started imposing systematical identity checks on all nationals from countries inside or outside the EU.

The move came after the European Parliament passed the decree in February.

The decree, which amends the Schengen Borders Code, obliges EU member states to carry out systematic checks on all persons crossing EU external borders against databases of stolen and lost documents, the Schengen Information System and other relevant EU databases.

The checks will be mandatory at all air, sea and land borders on both entry and exit.

The new change is the latest EU move to tackle terrorist threats, and the phenomenon of foreign fighters -- EU citizens joining terrorist groups in conflict zones, such as in Syria and Iraq. Endit