Slovenia’s Interior Affairs Minister mentioned on Thursday the possibility that Europe might send its Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, to the border between Bosnia and Croatia to curb illegal immigration into the EU, his ministry said on Thursday.

Bostjan Poklukar met with Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on the during a meeting of EU interior ministers where the two discussed migrations and the situation in the Western Balkans, the Slovenian Interior Ministry said.  

The two ministers agreed that the problem is not the Slovenian-Italian border but the external EU border which should be protected better, the ministry said.  

They expressed willingness to help Croatia if the country assesses it needs assistance, and Poklukar mentioned the possibility of sending Frontex to the Croatian-Bosnian border, the statement said.  

Poklukar told Salvini that closing the Slovenian-Italian border because of illegal migration was unnecessary.

Any restriction of the border regime at the border would interfere with the everyday life of people living there, the ministry said, adding that border closures in history had negative consequences.