A top scientist in Croatia has warned Europe to prepare for an ice age instead of talking about global warming.

Physician Vladimir Paar suggests one would not need to cross the sea when travelling from Ireland or UK to Croatia via the rest of Europe.

"A majority of Europe will be under ice, including Germany, Poland, France, Austria, Slovakia and part of Slovenia", Paar said in an interview on Croatian news website Index.

"Ice ages in the past lasted about 70,000 years. That's a fact, and a new ice age will occur. It is a question what will happen to people in Central European countries. They might migrate south or might stay put, but with a huge increase in energy spending", the scientist said.

"What I am warning is that global warming is natural. Some 130,000 years ago, the temperature was the same as now, the level of CO2 was almost the same, and the level of the sea was four metres higher".

Asked when the ice age would begin, he said: "That could happen in five, ten, fifty or a hundred years, or even later. We can't predict it precisely, but it will come".

Paar cited America as an example: "They keep talking to people about global warming, but 50 per cent of Americans do not believe it any more as they keep freezing".