The police contingent of twenty-five that Slovakia sent for the fulfilment of border policing responsibilities at the Hungarian-Serbian border at the request of the Hungarian authorities was received in Budapest on Monday as part of a ceremony.
Károly Kontrát, Minister of State at the Ministry of Interior, said at the event that Hungary and Slovakia share the same line of thought, and are acting together to curb the illegal migration „that is pouring down upon us”.
The service of the Slovak police contingent that has arrived in Hungary as part of the border policing cooperation of the Visegrád Four will begin on Tuesday, the Minister of State said.
Upon saying thanks to Slovakia and the police personnel that came to serve in Hungary, Mr Kontrát highlighted: Hungary is making enormous efforts to protect its southern borders, the Hungarian people and the external Schengen border.
He added that Hungary has recently passed stringent laws, and there is significant „live force” protection present at the southern border where eight thousand police and military personnel are serving at present.
Hungary is making available the financial resources necessary for the effective protection of the border, Mr Kontrát stated, and said: the country has spent more than a hundred billion forints for this purpose in the past year.
He further mentioned that the European Union’s „flawed immigration policy” has not changed at all: rather than setting as its goal the stopping of illegal migration, it is making a proposal for the distribution of migrants.
Mr Kontrát said that more than four hundred people had tried to cross the Hungarian-Serbian border illegally last week.