World Bulletin / News Desk

Slovenia will in the coming days construct "temporary technical obstacles" on its border with Croatia in order to better manage the influx of refugees, Prime Minister Miro Cerar said Tuesday.

Cerar, whose country has been struggling to cope with the arrival of more than 170,000 refugees bound for northern Europe since mid-October, said however that the frontier will remain open.

"We decided yesterday to start building over the following days on the Schengen (zone) border with Croatia some temporary technical obstacles," Cerar told reporters in Ljubljana.

"These obstacles, including fences if needed, will have the objective of directing refugees towards the border crossings. We are not closing our borders," he said.

Slovenia last month suddenly found itself on the main route for thousands of refugees travelling to northern Europe after Hungary sealed its borders.

Cerar said that the measures come ahead of an expected spike in the number of refugees arriving in the coming days after a recent lull.

"We know right now that some 30,000 refugees are heading from Greece towards the north," he said. 

"That shows that the commitments from Brussels... are not being fulfilled. The flow of refugees hasn't reduced nor slowed down."