Slovenia supports the strengthening of EU border protection, in particular expansion of the mandate of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency in third countries. But it has several reservations.
These reservations "refer to criteria under which the number of employees an individual country would contribute to the permanent force would be determined. They have not been provided," Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar said after a session of the Justice and Home Affairs Council.
The EU Commission has proposed Slovenia contribute around 200 staff, a number Poklukar said was "not acceptable and cannot be provided at this moment" given the shortage of police officers.
Slovenia also has reservations about the border guards' authority, financing, training, and the goal to set up the unit until 2020, which Poklukar said was not realistic.
He said several other countries shared similar reservations, among them France, Denmark, Greece and Slovenia's neighbouring countries.
Border control is a major issue for Slovenia, which insists it is protecting the outer borders of the Schengen area well enough, rendering continued controls of internal Schengen borders unnecessary.
Despite Slovenia's stance, Austria and Germany announced this week they would extent controls on their southern borders by another six months, a move that Slovenia greeted by asserting it was unwarranted.
Austrian Interior Minister Herbert Kickl dismissed the criticism today saying that he could not understand the Slovenian position and that his job was to protect Austria.
Poklukar said he did not raise this issue when he had a courtesy talk with Kickl at today's meeting.
But he noted that border checks were a nuisance for Slovenian as well as Austrian citizens. "I wish that Austria loosen or eliminate [border checks] as soon as possible," he said.
Another major issue in the context of border protection is the return of illegal migrants, with Poklukar stressing that Slovenia sought an "efficient policy of returns" and saw the EU Commission as not ambitious enough in addressing this issue.
It does, however, welcome some other solutions, for example the introduction of rapid procedures on the border, partial restrictions on appeals by unsuccessful applicants, and uniform risk criteria in return procedures.
