Hungarian Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér and his Serbian counterpart Nebojša Stefanović met in Röszke to discuss joint action to combat illegal immigration.
At the press conference following the meeting, Mr. Pintér said the parties had agreed that illegal immigration and mass migration would remain a serious problem in the upcoming period. The Austrian Government’s announcement that it would be restricting the daily number of migrants received is not making the situation any easier, and accordingly we must prepare to be able to protect our borders, the politician stressed.
Border protection requires cooperation with Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and especially with Austria, the Hungarian Minister of Interior said.
Hungary is a clear supporter of Serbia’s European integration and has offered its assistance towards fulfilling the internal policy requirements for the commencement of accession talks, he added.
With regard to tasks in the direct vicinity of the border, Mr. Pintér said that joint patrolling and other duties were being reinforced.
Mr. Stefanović said that Hungarian and Serbian authorities were cooperating with regard to the vetting of new arrivals to enable a decision on who should be allowed to enter Europe and who are economic immigrants.
The Minister stressed that although Serbia must concentrate on its own interests, it has been in continuous discussions with both the European Union and Hungary, especially with regard to the introduction of tighter border crossing regulations by Austria.
Serbia and Hungary are also in discussion on how they might provide effective police assistance for the protection of the Greek-Macedonian border, he said.
Another subject of the meeting was the threat of terrorism with regard to which Mr. Stefanović said that the Hungarian and Serbian authorities are cooperating to filter out migrants who are suspected of being terrorists.