Slovenia starts to limit refugee flow Thursday night

The Slovenian government announced on Thursday night it would introduce restrictions on the number of migrants coming into the country by allowing entry only to those who intend to seek asylum in Austria or Germany.

Slovenian interior minister Vesna Gyorkos Znidar made the announcement on Thursday evening after the government session, saying the measure would take effect tonight for the migrants arriving on board the first train due from Croatia at 10:00 p.m. local time (2100 GMT)

Slovenia has already notified Croatia of the measure, the minister said.

However, it was too early to say how Croatia would react to Slovenia's potentially turning back migrants not intending to ask for international protection in Germany or Austria.

She said the measure was not prejudging international protection procedures in Slovenia and that Slovenia was not placing a limit on the number of migrants it takes in for the time being, according to the Slovenian Press Agency (STA) in its flash report.

The measure comes after Austria decided to allow entry only to refugees seeking asylum in Austria or Germany and to limit the number of asylum applications it will accept this year.

Source: XINHUA