Hungary, Austria and Serbia work together to stem migration

Hungary, Austria and Serbia work together to stem migration




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FILE - Operational police officers walk along the service route of Hungary's border with Serbia near Roszke, Southern Hungary, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. The leaders of Hungary, Austria and Serbia met Monday in Budapest to find solutions on how to stem the recently increasing number of migrants arriving in Europe. (Tibor Rosta/MTI via AP, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)




KIRSTEN GRIESHABER and JOVANA GEC
Mon, October 3, 2022 at 9:47 AM



BERLIN (AP) — The leaders of Hungary, Austria and Serbia met Monday in Budapest to find solutions on how to stem the increasing number of migrants arriving in Europe, among them many young men from India.

The three leaders agreed to take joint action to control the new arrivals along the migration route that leads through Serbia.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer told reporters after the meeting that the joint action plan would include increased police cooperation along the borders as well as supporting Serbia when it comes to deporting migrants back to their home countries.

"We will directly support Serbia to carry out repatriations and not only support technical know-how, but also do everything possible that is necessary, and financially support them,” Nehammer said.

The Austrian chancellor lauded Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's announcement that by the end of the year Serbia would align its visa policies with the European Union – Serbia is an EU candidate country but not a member yet – so that the visa-free regime with some non-EU countries is no longer used for migration purposes.

“We will thus prevent the situation when someone uses Serbia as a country of arrival but not because of their real needs but for illegal migration toward the west,” Vucic said.

Hungarian President Viktor Orban said “with this meeting today, we mobilized a force to defend borders so we decrease the pressure on us and the EU," Serbia’s Tanjug news agency reported.

Among the migrants recently detained in Austria who have applied for asylum to avoid immediate deportation, Indians accounted for the biggest group in September, according government data.

Indians are not allowed to enter the EU without a visa but have taken advantage of being able to travel to Serbia which they can enter without a visa. From there, many are trying to reach Western European countries with the help of traffickers.

Monday's meeting in the Hungarian capital came after announcements by the Czech Republic and Austria last week that they would launch temporary border controls at their crossings with Slovakia to stop migrants from entering.
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Jovana Gec reported from Belgrade, Serbia.
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Follow all AP stories on migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration




https://www.yahoo.com/news/hungary-a...134756706.html

Serbia's police prevent 200 migrants from entering Hungary, seize money, weapons



Wed, October 5, 2022 at 10:26 AM



BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbian police prevented 200 migrants from crossing into the country's northern neighbor Hungary and seized money and weapons, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.

The number of illegal migrants and refugees travelling across Serbia and other Balkan states to the European Union has been rising in recent months and many are using human trafficking networks, authorities said.

They come mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as Central Asia and other Middle Eastern countries.

Police said that during a raid of an improvised camp along the Tisa river in Serbia's north, they also found an unspecified amount of cash and weapons.

"A number of migrants were escorted by the police to the reception centre for migrants, and a number were taken to the appropriate prosecutor's office for further action," the ministry said, quoting Aleksandar Vulin, the Minister of the Interior.

The action of the Serbian police comes after leaders of Hungary, Serbia and Austria on Monday pledged tougher measures to contain the flow of illegal migrants into the European Union through the Western Balkans, as border control forces become increasingly strained.

In the statement Vulin also pledged Serbian police would crack down on migrant trafficking gangs.

"Our country ... will not be a parking lot for migrants, and especially not a place for scum and bandits," the statement said.

On Monday, Serbia, a EU membership candidate, also pledged it would align its visa policies with those of the bloc, so migrants could not use it as the first country of entry.

In the first eight months of this year, 86,581 irregular entries were detected at the external borders of the European Union with the Western Balkans, border agency Frontex has said, a 190% increase from last year.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)


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