Why is the Hadžin Potok Border Crossing Closed: Croatia Cites Illegal Migrations for Closing a Legal Crossing!?

Croatian authorities have closed the Hadžin Potok border crossing with BiH near Velika Kladuša. In a document obtained by Istraga, the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia stated that the border crossing is closed due to – illegal migrations, writes Istraga.ba.

Therefore, according to the interpretation of the Croatian police, illegal migrants are using legal border crossings.

“Given that we continue to record significant migratory pressure on the common state border, and that the migration route has now shifted from Hadžin Potok, Šiljkovača, and Bogovolja to the border crossing itself, we note that we are of the opinion that, for security reasons, a decision on the reclassification of the border crossing in question will not be made temporarily,” stated the letter from the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia, delivered to the Director of the Border Police of BiH, Mirko Kuprešaković, and Zlatko Vranješ, President of the Joint Commission for Monitoring the Implementation of the Agreement between the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina on Border Crossings.


The decision by Croatian authorities comes about twenty days after the EU leaders' decision on a different approach to the migrant crisis.

“Today, the Council took a decisive step towards modernizing the EU's asylum and migration rules. An agreement has been reached on a negotiating position on the Asylum Procedure Regulation and the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation,” the Council of the EU announced on June 8.

According to the same announcement, the Asylum Procedure Regulation introduces mandatory border procedures to quickly assess at the EU's external borders whether applications are unfounded or inadmissible. Persons subject to the border asylum procedure are not allowed to enter the territory of an EU member state.

Under the new rules, rejected individuals can be quickly returned to their country of origin or a third country. Whether a third country is suitable will be decided by the countries at the EU's external borders.

EU leaders agreed to “create centers at the EU's external borders. These centers would have the capacity to accommodate 40,000 people annually and would conduct accelerated asylum determination procedures. If it is assessed that a person does not need international protection, it is proposed that they be returned to the country of transit or the country of origin within six months at the latest.

What does this essentially mean? It means that the authorities of the Republic of Croatia will, in accordance with EU regulations, be able to return migrants they do not want to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the future.

Let us recall that at the beginning of this year, it was announced that the EU had financed the construction of a facility in the immediate vicinity of the “Lipa” migrant camp near Bihać, which NGO activists described as a “detention unit for migrants.”

Thus, first, a prison for migrants was built near Bihać with EU funds. Then, the EU adopted new rules for dealing with migrants at external borders, and finally, Croatia closed a legal border crossing “due to migrations.”

“I must say that it was incredible for me to read the news that the authorities of the Republic of Croatia are closing the only temporary border crossing for international passenger traffic, Hadžin Potok-Bogovolja, and that the Border Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia has not given consent to its members of the Joint Commission for the implementation of the agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Croatia on border crossings to extend the decision on temporary international passenger traffic through the permanent border crossing for border traffic Hadžin Potok-Bogovolja. Thus, after six years of operation in a temporary status as an international border crossing for road passenger traffic, the only one in the Una-Sana Canton, Hadžin Potok-Bogovolja, is being closed. Why? Why exactly this one, which has every justification to continue operating under the previously established regime by the Joint Commission until it is declared a permanent border crossing for international passenger traffic? In this regard, I ask the Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina: 'What is the real reason for closing the Hadžin Potok-Bogovolja border crossing for road passenger traffic?' 'Is the reason the deteriorating security situation due to migrants, as stated by the Border Directorate of the Republic of Croatia, which I must admit is unfounded and unconvincing now, and what will the Ministry undertake to urgently open this border crossing for passenger traffic?', stated NES MP Jasmin Emrić at the session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH.