Slovenia To Deploy Army To Help Stem Influx Of Refugees

Slovenia’s parliament is expected to approve changes to its laws that would enable the army to help police guard the border to stem the influx of refugees.

The arrival of refugees has increased significantly since neighbouring Hungary sealed its borders, closing off a major corridor for people trying to reach northern Europe.  The government had proposed the amendments to its Law on Defence overnight, after 8,000 refugees crossed into Slovenian territory on Monday. Only 2,000 of them passed through to Austria.
“The influx of migrants over the last three days has exceeded all manageable possibilities,” a government statement said on Tuesday, adding that parliament would be asked to approve legislation allowing soldiers to help in the crisis “under very specific circumstances”.
Under current law, the army can only provide technical and logistical support.
The government has not given details of the proposed changes to the law, but issued a statement stressing Slovenia’s lack of capacity to deal with the influx and calling on fellow EU countries to help. “Slovenia is the smallest country on the Balkan migration route and has therefore limited possibilities of border control and accommodating migrants,” the government said.
Aljazeera.