“We are both aware that Schengen is an extraordinary achievement that must be preserved,” said Meloni of the agreement allowing free movement between signatory countries.
“The joint commitment is to restore the ordinary border regime as soon as conditions allow,” she added.
On October 21, Italy suspended the Schengen agreement with Austria and Slovenia and reintroduced controls in response to the “intensification of crisis hotbeds on Europe’s borders, particularly after the attack on Israel”.
It said border controls would last for 10 days, with the possibility of an extension, and “will be implemented in a way that ensures the proportionality” to the level of the “threat” and will be “calibrated to cause the least possible impact on cross-border movement and freight traffic”.
“We are aware of the difficulties for our cross-border communities that have arisen from the reintroduction of border controls that Italy and Slovenia have had to adopt in order to meet the security challenges arising from the current international situation [and] from the growing migratory pressure on our borders,” said Meloni in the joint statements on Tuesday.
In other points, Meloni thanked the Slovenian government for supporting Rome’s bid to host Expo 2030 and said the two countries had agreed to maintain “constant dialogue” on the Italian minority in Slovenia and the Slovenian minority in Italy.
The PM also said she and Golob had talked “at length” about the designation of Gorizia in Italy and nova Gorica in Slovenia as joint European capital of culture in 2025.
The decision, said Meloni, “bears witness to the vitality, the richness of this territory, but also to how these destinies are often interconnected, and it is a project that from our point of view can offer important opportunities for economic and social development for both”.
ANSA
