Interior Minister Faeser met her counterparts from Austria and the Visegrád states in the Hungarian border town of Szeged. In the future, the countries want to fight smuggling gangs together – but one point of contention remains unresolved.
The location of the meeting of interior ministers of the four Visegrád states of the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary with their counterparts from Germany and Austria was probably not chosen by chance. The border with Serbia – the EU’s external border – runs very close to the Hungarian city of Szeged.
In 2015, Viktor Orbán’s government erected a high, forbidding fence there. He walks over 160 kilometers. However, the fence does not keep migrants out. The route via Serbia, Hungary and on to Austria is active. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser also knows this. In order to solve the problem, the border authorities should now talk to each other more.
“Catch the big guys behind”
“We have decided that the border authorities will work more closely together and meet more regularly. Also in order to have a common picture of the situation,” said Germany’s Interior Minister. It is important to know where people come from. What route and when they would come. “And that is very, very important for all of us. And I am glad that this could be achieved today.”
Above all, smuggling crime should be limited and the EU’s external border protected – this is what the interior ministers have set themselves as the goal. What is important is “the fight against organized crime, which profits most from this illegal migration,” said Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner.
“We have agreed that we will exchange information more intensively, especially at the police level, so that we not only catch the small fish, but also the big ones.” In this way, the authorities could “put a stop to this brutal business of organized crime.”
Faeser can imagine expanding the operations
Faeser today criticized the fact that Hungary released hundreds of smugglers from prisons a few months ago in front of the German media following the conference. “Of course it’s not okay to release smugglers again. That’s why it’s important to come to the site and say so.”
Violence between migrants recently occurred in the Hungarian-Serbian border region. Some suspect that fights between smuggler gangs were behind it. The fact that many of them are active around the border fence is an open secret in the area. German police officers are also likely to notice this. They are deployed in Serbia as part of a Frontex mission.
Faeser welcomed operations like this – and can imagine an expansion in the region. “To also ensure that constitutional means are adhered to,” she said.
Hungary defies Dublin rules
Once the migrants are over the fence in Hungary, they would actually have to apply for asylum in Hungary – these are the Dublin rules. But the Hungarian right-wing populist Orbán has made this almost impossible. The number of asylum seekers in Hungary is in the double-digit range every year. In his own words, Orbán feels “legally violated” by the EU asylum compromise.
The Hungarian Interior Minister announced again today that he would not take part in the planned redistribution of migrants. The Council of the EU adopted the pact with a qualified majority without Hungary. According to Faeser, the EU is close to an agreement in the negotiations between the Council, Parliament and Commission.
Silke Hahne, ARD Vienna, tagesschau, November 27th, 2023 3:00 p.m