The leaders of Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia proposed on Tuesday the establishment of facilities for housing asylum seekers outside the European Union, a solution they said would help curb illegal immigration, which they believe poses an existential threat to the Union, reports AP.
After the meeting in Komarno, Slovakia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico presented a stricter migration policy, which includes more effective deportation measures and increased funding for EU member states at the bloc’s external borders.
The long-anticipated migration pact adopted by the EU in May is “not a solution, but the problem itself,” stated Orban, who has long been one of the fiercest opponents of immigration within the Union.
He proposed that the EU establish and finance “hotspots” in North Africa and other locations where asylum seekers would wait for the approval of their applications for international protection.
“Those who want to come to Europe can gather there and submit their requests, which we will evaluate. If we approve, they can come; if not, they will stay. All other solutions are ineffective,” said Orban.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated after the meeting that he would never agree to the creation of “hotspot centers” for illegal migrants heading to the European Union on Serbian territory and that the prime ministers of Slovakia and Hungary had not asked him to do so.
“There was no discussion, and it never crossed my mind that Serbia should become a hotspot,” Vucic said after the meeting with Robert Fico and Viktor Orban, as reported by Reuters.
Fico suggested that the EU should erect physical barriers at its external borders, something Hungary did unilaterally in 2015 after hundreds of thousands of people, mostly fleeing war and instability in Syria and Iraq, entered the EU.
Fico also criticized recent EU immigration reforms, saying the bloc should adopt a “new migration pact” that allows for deportations.
In a joint statement, the three leaders agreed that illegal migration is “a serious problem, driven by geopolitical instability, growing conflicts, and social inequalities in Europe’s immediate neighborhood.”
Meeting of Interior Ministers In addition to the meeting between Vucic, Fico, and Orban, the interior ministers of these three countries — Ivica Dacic, Sandor Pinter, and Mateusz Eštok — also met in Slovakia.
As announced by Serbia’s Ministry of Interior, the ministers agreed to “continue taking all measures and actions in the fight against irregular migration.”
A report from the European Border Protection Agency (Frontex) showed that the number of illegal crossings in the Western Balkans dropped by 79 percent in the first nine months of this year.
Nevertheless, footage and reports from international organizations indicate an increasing number of violent expulsions of people on the move.
After the Balkan Route was closed in 2016, people on the move continued their journeys with the help of smugglers, taking risky routes often accompanied by reports of fatalities.
