Slovenia will extend the fence along the border with Croatia to prevent illegal migrants from entering, Croatia's state agency Hina reported on Wednesday, citing Slovenia's Interior Minister, Ales Hojs.

During a visit to the Savinjska region, which stretches from the Croatian to the Austrian border, Hojs “inspected the situation” on the border with Croatia, announcing “the erection of several dozen more kilometres of anti-migrant fencing,” Hina said, and quoted Hojs as saying that “work could begin in two or three weeks.”

Slovenia started putting up the razor-wire fence during the great migrant crisis of 2015-16, and now it stretches along more than half of the length of the border between the two countries, Hina said, without saying how long the land border between the two countries is.

Hojs said that “latest intelligence data did not indicate a possible major wave of migrants from Afghanistan” after the country had been taken over by Taliban. He recalled that EU interior ministers made it clear at their recent meeting that “the EU would not keep its doors wide open to Afghan refugees and migrants as it had during the 2015-16 crisis.”

“That means that Europe will help only those who really need help – and these are vulnerable groups, such as women and children,” Hojs said.

Slovenia lies on the so-called Balkan refugee route towards western and central Europe. Unlike several years ago, it is seeing fewer attempts by refugees and migrants to enter the country illegally. According to official figures, 4,495 illegal border crossings were recorded in the first seven months of this year, a decrease of 70 percent compared with the same period in 2020, when 7,577 such cases had been registered.