Traffic congestion was expected due to the upcoming Easter holidays and EU-imposted stricter border checks due to terrorism.

Traffic has been increasing in the direction of all border crossings with Croatia in the Novo mesto police administration, Novo mesto police spokesman said Robert Perc.

The tailback of traffic at Obrežje is getting longer by the hour.

Last evening, the waiting time for cars exiting the country was 45 minutes, while this extended to three hours and 45 minutes during the night.

Bus passengers have to wait about two hours for both entering and exiting the country.

"At border crossing Obrežje all staffing and technical options for making transit smoother have been exhausted. Police and (motorway company) DARS...are maintaining order at motorways to have at least the emergency lane clear," Perc said.

After the EU-imposed stricter border checks cased long waiting times at border crossings last weekend, Slovenia notified the EU Commission on Wednesday that it may opt for selective checks based on security assessments when traffic is increased the most.

However, Prime Minister Miro Cerar said yesterday Slovenia was obliged as a guardian of the Schengen border to ensure appropriate border controls.

He made the statement after his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenković urged Slovenia to follow Croatia's example and replace systematic border checks of all passengers with only targeted checks.