Slovenia has stepped up police checks at its borders with Croatia and Hungary and inland measures to combat terrorism and prevent illegal migration in response to the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. But unlike some other European countries, it has not decided to suspend the processing of asylum applications from Syrians.

Interior Minister Boštjan Poklukar notified his Italian and Croatian counterparts, Matteo Piantedosi and Davor Božinović, of the decision to intensify border checks as they discussed the situation in Syria on 10 December.

The trio talked about the potential effects of the developments in Syria on security in the EU, agreeing to resume their discussion on the sidelines of the EU home affairs ministerial meeting on 12 December.

The Interior Ministry said on 11 December it was not suspending the processing of Syrians' asylum applications for the time being, while Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon urged a joint decision on the matter at the EU level.

Fajon spoke about the issue at a session of the parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee where Žan Mahnič, an MP for the opposition Democratic Party (SDS), called for Slovenia to put Syria on the safe country list, stop processing asylum applications from Syrians, and deport Syrians who have been granted asylum in Slovenia in recent years.

Fajon said every change in the situation in the country of origin must first be examined. She noted the European Commission has warned against rushing such decisions.

"The last thing we want is secondary migration of Syrian applicants because of tougher rhetoric in individual member states," she said.

According to Fajon, Slovenia granted asylum to 30 Syrians last year and 15 the year before. She said there were not many such applications in Slovenia.

Eurostat data also shows that apart from those, Slovenia approved five such applications in 2021 and 90 in 2017.

Interior Ministry data shows Syrians remain the largest group of illegal migrants; more than 14,000 of them crossed into the country illegally in the first ten months of the year.

This year by December Syrians submitted 184 applications for international protection in Slovenia.