Croatia Prepares For a Rise in Refugees

Croatia is preparing to receive up to 3,200 refugees and migrants as part of an EU plan to share over 160,000 refugees and migrants currently in Italy, Hungary and Greece around the EU countries.

Under the quota plan, to which some EU countries object, Croatia would have to accommodate 3,200 refugees and migrants, three times more than was initially proposed in May, when a figure of 1,062 refugees and asylum seekers was mentioned.

As yet, Croatia has not been hit by the wave of migrants crossing the Balkans by land and sea towards Germany. Only 720 people applied for asylum this year and of these 720 requests, only 40 were granted, while 21 were given official state protection.

Drago Zuparic Iljic, from the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, told BIRN that the Croatian Interior Ministry, the Red Cross and other organizations have been preparing for months for a "reallocation and resettlement scheme" that could receive all the 3,200 refugees in question without too many problems.

"However, all the other problems on what to do after basic admission remain," he warned.

"There are questions such as how to integrate these people into Croatian society, if they decide to stay longer in Croatia; about teaching them Croatian and offering them employment and managing their situation on a longer term," he said.

He also warned that the final number of refugees would likely be larger.

Croatia's central coordinating body, the National Protection and Rescue Directorate, says it has a potential capacity to hold up to 10,000 people temporarily.

The number of migrants entering Croatia meanwhile could rise sharply if the closure of the Hungarian border with Serbia results in the current migration route being diverted.