Hungary and Austria are ready to cooperate in the resolution of migration issues as well, the two countries’ Defence and Interior Ministers stressed on Friday in St. Martin in Burgenland where they held bilateral talks.
On behalf of the Hungarian party the meeting was attended by Interior Minister Sándor Pintér and Defence Minister István Simicskó, while the Austrian party was represented by Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka and Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil.
The ministers agreed that Europe and European values must be protected at the Schengen borders, asylum requests should in the future be assessed outside Europe, at hot spots specifically established for the purpose on the external borders, and Austria and Hungary should participate in the protection of the European borders jointly by drawing on the experiences gained by the V4 countries in this field to date.
At the press conference held after the ministerial meeting, Hans Peter Doskozil said: amidst the migration crisis, everyone has been looking for „the big solution” in the past few months. It is, however, not enough to wait for a pan-European solution; the individual countries must do everything they possibly can within the framework of bilateral cooperation as well.
He pointed out that the pressure of migration still weighs heavily upon both Austria and Hungary as 60 to 70 per cent of immigrants continue to arrive in Europe via the Balkans route.
The Austrian Defence Minister takes the view that the two neighbouring countries must also concern themselves with minor steps and minor solutions, and if they achieve results in their cooperation, they can set an example for other European Member States as well. He stressed that the parties must engage in negotiations on every issue concerning migration, including the issue of sending migrants back.
Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka highlighted: both Austria and Hungary share the view that the migration procedures must be conducted outside the territory of the European Union, and asylum requests must be assessed during the course of these procedures.
He repeated that Austria insists on the formerly fixed contingent of 37,500, meaning that this is the maximum number of refugees it is prepared to take in this year.
The Austrian Interior Minister, too, believes it would be important to develop an effective European border protection policy which Austria and Hungary will seek to promote with their joint proposals in the future.
Defence Minister István Simicskó said at the press conference: the Hungarian and Austrian positions have begun to converge, and the meeting was a success.
In his words, cooperation between the two countries also on issues of migration is highly topical as they agreed that Europe, European values and the Schengen achievements must be protected at the external borders.
Interior Minister Sándor Pintér announced: the parties agreed at the bilateral ministerial meeting to set up a Hungarian-Austrian working committee which will discuss all the important issues of cooperation related to the management of the migration crisis in the next one month, and will also develop proposals regarding the possible solutions.
He said: he invited both Austrian Ministers to Hungary in order to evaluate the committee’s report and proposals jointly in a month’s time, and to table joint recommendations to the European Union on the basis of these.