Border policing cooperation within the framework of the V4 may start already as of next week, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on the news programme of the public service television channel M1 on Thursday.

The Minister attended the migration conference with the participation of representatives from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and the Western-Balkans countries together with the home and foreign affairs ministers of the rest of the EU Member States in Luxembourg.

Mr Szijjártó pointed out: the Visegrád Group (V4: Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia) would protect the external borders of the Schengen zone and the European Union in Hungary’s southern parts within the framework of a cooperation scheme. V4 prime ministers will agree on the specific offerings, and the soldiers, police personnel and equipment to be supplied by the Visegrád partners next week, on the occasion of the meeting of the European Council, he said.

The Minister stressed: the agreement is an important example for the European Union as the EU, too, could only give an appropriate response to the migration crisis if it reinforced the protection of the external borders „not only in words, but also in actions". As long as a common European force is unable to protect the external borders of Greece, there is no chance of successfully facing the crisis, he stated, and added: the V4 countries will demonstrate that they will be able to protect Hungary’s borders, and if four countries are able to unite their efforts, 28 Member States should also be able to do that.

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Mr Szijjártó further highlighted that, with the advent of the winter, the pressure of migration may increase after October as during this period people in even larger numbers will opt for the Western Balkans route. The countries of the Western Balkans cannot be expected to stop this wave if the EU Member States themselves are unable to do so, in his view.

The Minister is of the opinion that it further deteriorates the situation that there is no stability in the region from which the migrants are coming, and the Islamic State is seizing control of new territories. As a result, there is a danger that millions may decide to set out for Europe. This is why the European Union should regain control over its external borders and should support the regions concerned so that they can adequately provide for refugees and immigrants, thereby preventing them from setting out, he explained.
Mr Szijjártó announced earlier: an agreement was reached by the Visegrád countries that the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland will also take part in the protection of the external border of the European Union and the Schengen zone on the southern border of Hungary.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on Tuesday in Prague that in the second phase of the assistance to be provided for Budapest, the Czech Republic will send further soldiers and police personnel to Hungary. The Czech Government decided on Monday that Prague will send a contingent of twenty-five soldiers and land technical equipment to Hungary in the first phase in order to help guard the Schengen border.

Joanna Rokicka, spokesperson for the Polish border guards announced on Monday that Poland had sent a helicopter to Hungary to reinforce the protection of the Hungarian-Croatian border.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)