Slovenia to set up police checkpoints at its borders

Slovenia will set up police checkpoints on its territory near border crossings, including along the border with Croatia.The Schengen regime remains in effect, and vehicles can still cross former border crossings without any checks. However, there will be police checkpoints where the police will stop and check certain vehicles. Following the example of Italy, Slovenia will introduce the measure because of illegal migration, 24ur reported. The Slovenian government is not considering introducing border controls with Croatia despite the significant increase in illegal entry of migrants, Slovenian State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marko Štucin, said.

Porsche to build electric bike factory in Croatia

German sports car manufacturer Porsche is in the final stages of planning to build an electric bicycle factory in Croatia, Jutarnji list reported. This will be the first factory of the German automotive giant in Croatia and its first greenfield investment in local industrial production. Jutarnji list specified that details about Porsche’s electric bike factory are not known yet, but it is another significant investment in the Croatian electric vehicle sector since the local company Rimac Group began construction of an electric vehicle factory near Zagreb. Earlier, the Porsche Group, through Porsche eBike Performance, acquired the startup Greyp Bikes from Mate Rimac, owner of Rimac Group. Porsche eBike Performance paid EUR 13.3 million for Greyp Bikes.

Greek citizens must replace their identity cards by 2026

Greeks can now use the platform id.gov.gr to apply electronically for machine-readable identity cards according to EU and US standards, BTA reported.  All citizens are obliged to change their ID cards by August 3, 2026. The only extra information, blood type and rhesus factor, is optional. Photographs for documents and fingerprints will now be taken electronically on the spot. The proposal to change identity cards has caused discontent among some Greeks. There were protests in Thessaloniki and Athens over rumours that the new ID cards contain a chip that will allow authorities to pinpoint cardholders’ location. The authorities have dismissed these speculations. Professional photographers also complained that the new documents were "taking their jobs".

 Romania to take Austria to the EU Court of Justice if the latter uses the veto on Schengen again in December

Romania will take Austria to the EU Court of Justice and ask the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament to be a party to the process, if Austria uses the veto on Schengen again in December, the country’s premier Marcel Ciolacu said for Antena 3 and Digi 24. "As long as I am prime minister, I will not accept the chancellor being a hypocrite and humiliating Romania further. After Nehammer approved Croatia's entry into Schengen, he could not say that Romania and Bulgaria cannot join in", Bogdan Ciolacu said. He recalled that Romania loses at least 2% of its GDP by not joining the Schengen.

Four dead in northern Kosovo as gunmen battle police

On September 24, a Kosovar police officer was killed in northern Kosovo. Another police officer was wounded. The authorities besieged a group of 30 heavily armed Serbs in a monastery near the village of Banjska. Four Kosovo Serbs were killed in the shootings. Six were wounded and arrested. After a meeting in Belgrade with the ambassadors of the United States, Great Britain, Italy, Germany and France, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said the current situation was the fault of Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti. Vučić wanted the NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR to take over responsibility for all security matters in northern Kosovo instead of the country’s national police. Kosovo called on Serbia to hand over ethnic Serb gunmen it said had escaped after a shootout with Kosovar police that killed four people in the restive north of the country, Reuters reported. "We are still doing our hard work to figure out exactly how and who is responsible and why," the US Ambassador to Kosovo Jeffrey Hovenier said after meeting Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani.