ZAGREB, April 28 (Hina) - Slovene President Janez Drnovsek on Wednesday opened the remodelled border crossing Jelsane-Rupa on the Slovene side of the Slovene-Croatian border in the presence of Croatian President Stjepan Mesic.
ZAGREB, April 28 (Hina) - Slovene President Janez Drnovsek on Wednesday
opened the remodelled border crossing Jelsane-Rupa on the Slovene side
of the Slovene-Croatian border in the presence of Croatian President
Stjepan Mesic.#L#
This is one of the three road border crossings on the Slovene-Croatian
border with all services necessary for the implementation of the first
phase of the Schengen agreement to start on May 1, when Slovenia joins
the European Union.
The crossing, which covers an area of nine hectares, includes customs,
police, veterinary, fitosanitary and health control, in line with the
Schengen agreement. Funds for construction works, which started in
September 2003, were provided by the Slovene government and the EU
within the PHARE programme.
Drnovsek said that the border control regime towards Croatia would not
be tightened and that communication between the two countries would be
even better. He expressed a wish for Croatia to join the EU as soon as
possible and offered congratulations on the positive opinion of the
European Commission on Croatia's EU membership application.
President Mesic said that Slovenia's admission to the EU would be an
encouragement for Croatia in negotiations with the EU.
Asked if Croatian citizens would enter Slovenia using a separate lane
or the lane for EU citizens, Drnovsek expressed hope that Croatian
citizens would cross the border without problems. He could not comment
on technical details as he was not familiar with them, adding that the
implementation of the agreement on cross border cooperation with
Croatia would continue as agreed with the EU.
The opening ceremony was also attended by the head of the European
Commission's Delegation in Slovenia, Erwan Fourej.
(Hina) rml