A group of EU Parliament’s members (MEPs) had tried to reach a green-border crossing on Croatia’s border with Bosnia-Herzegovina (B&H) this January. The MEPs mission had been to check reported violence toward migrants and arbitrary rejections from the Croatian Police pushing them back to B&H. As Croatian Police restricted the group’s access to the green-border crossing, MEPs went to a camp near the city of Bihac to check on conditions migrants were living in and potentially only waiting for better weather conditions to try to enter Croatia illegally. Consequently, those who succeed may face improved and faster asylum and migration procedures, determining their eligibility to stay in the EU or go back to their country of origin.
On January 30th, 2021, four Italian MEPs, including the EU Civil Rights Commission’s vice-president Pietro Bartolo, took on media reports of Croatian Police brutality toward migrants and went to the Bojna cross border region where they try to enter the country illegally. The group communicated its trip with the Croatian ambassador in Rome. However, before reaching the green-border crossing, Italian MEPs encountered Croatian Police preventing their fact-checking mission on the premise that MEPs presence could encourage migrants’ illegal crossing attempts. Furthermore, Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic defined the visit as a provocation intended to damage Croatia’s international reputation as Italian MEPs were only allowed to check official border crossings to B&H. In return, MEPs have decided to go to B&H and check on the camp Lipa near Bihac.
The day after, the Italian MEPs had visited the camp, Lipa, still being operational even previously closed by the B&H government and set on fire by migrants on December 23rd, 2020. Commissioner Bartolo and his colleagues used this opportunity to familiarize themselves with the conditions migrants were living there. With the better weather conditions approaching, poor conditions in the camp, and local animosity toward them, migrants may be preparing to leave the camp soon. The Italian MEPs may have concluded that it is highly likely to see an increase in illegal crossing attempts – “The Game” – potentially sparking Police anti-EU response. Consequently, there will be more pressure on the Croatian government currently facing police brutality accusations in migrant pushback operations. Some media documented these operations not respecting a new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum aligned with the 1951 Refugee Convention requiring states to protect asylum seekers’ rights from expulsion even if they enter irregularly.
Migrants who are about to cross from B&H to Croatia illegally may face better chances of receiving a protected status until their cases get resolved. While official Zagreb will face more scrutiny from official Brussels on its anti-EU migrant treatment, Croatian Police may have to soften its future migrant-related approach. This situation will ease the situation in B&H, where migrants hardly can expect any significant help from the government facing decades-long internal disputes now harden even more by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemics. Furthermore, the Italian MEPs will highly likely continue to monitor the field’s situation raising the migrants’ odds to leave B&H.