From Today, Italy Prolongs Land Border Controls With Slovenia Until Mid-2025

Italy’s decision to further extend land border controls with Slovenia has become effective today, December 19, and will be kept in place for an additional six months.

The new measure of Italy, aimed to enhance the country’s security, is set to be kept in place for six months until June 18, 2025, Schengen.News reports. 

Notifying the European Commission regarding this decision, Italy argued that terrorism and irregular migration concerns are among the reasons that led the country to introduce such a measure.

Border Measure Aimed at Enhancing Italy’s Security 
In November this year, Italy gave signals that border controls with its neighbouring country, Slovenia, might be extended beyond December 18, when the measure was set to end. 

On November 18, the Interior Minster of Italy, Matteo Piantedosi, had a telephone call with his counterpart from Slovenia, Boštjan Poklukar, with the land border controls being among the main topics of discussion. 

According to a local media report, Piantedosi indicated that border controls with Slovenia may be further extended due to terrorist and irregular migration concerns.

Mentioning the further extension of border controls with Slovenia, the Italian Minister said that such a measure would be implemented as always, in such a way that causes the least inconvenience possible to citizens from Slovenia. 

Decline in Number of Irregular Border Crossing Attempts 
While irregular migration is among the main concerns of Italy, leading to the extension of land border controls, the number of irregular border crossings at the EU external border decreased by 40 per cent in the first 11 months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023 statistics. 

The figures from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) revealed that in the Central Mediterranean route, which also includes Italy, there was a 59 per cent decline in the number of irregular border crossing attempts compared to the same period in 2023. 

Frontex’s statistics show that the number of arrivals through the Central Mediterranean route for a period from January until November 2024 stood at 62,000.

Source: https://schengen.news/from-today-italy-prolongs-land-border-controls-with-slovenia-until-mid-2025/