Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said Thursday that Italy’s decision to suspend the Schengen Treaty and temporarily reintroduce controls at the border with Slovenia does not mean there is the threat of a terrorist attack here.
The decision to suspend the Schengen Treaty at the Italy-Slovenian border is not because Slovenia poses a direct threat. It is more to do with aiming to block the Balkan route for terrorists into Europe, government ministers said today.
“We have only closed Schengen on the border with Slovenia to prevent terrorists who could strike in our country or in Europe from arriving through the Balkan route,” Tajani told Mediaset television.
“There are no indications that there is a risk of attacks, but we cannot lower our guard. On the contrary, we are raising it precisely because of the need for prevention and in order to protect sites, in particular those frequented by Jewish citizens”.
Premier Giorgia Meloni said Wednesday the “worsening situation in the Middle East and the increase in migratory flows along the Balkan route” made it necessary to suspend the Schengen Treaty.
Piantedosi stressed Italy’s decision to suspend the Schengen Agreement and introduce controls at its border with Slovenia was “temporary” and “proportionate”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Internal Affairs Council, he said he had spoken to his Slovenian and Croatian counterparts. He added they would probably meet on November 2 in Trieste to discuss implementation.
“I presented the position of the Italian government (at the council meeting), which is that of reassuring its citizens that there are no concrete signs of an imminent alarm,” Piantedosi said.
“However, the situation (in the Middle East) and the way in which these episodes (of terrorist attacks) occurred in Belgium and France lead us to maintain a high level of attention and that is what we are doing”.
