The International Institute for Security and Cooperation (IISC) founded in Bulgaria, held a general assembly titled “Migration wave and migratory pressure in Europe” in Budapest. President of the general assembly Rumen Petkov stressed at the meeting that uniform legislation and a joint European data base was needed in order to manage the migration situation of Europe.

Following the roundtable discussion, Mr. Petkov emphasised that the expenses related to tackling the problem of migration in primary target countries are constantly increasing, and said that therefore joint action was needed. Using a joint database – similar to that of Europol or Frontex – would allow filtering out those migrants, who posed a terrorist threat. “We do not have the time to conduct serious analyses in every single case, because our system is not effective enough”, he explained.

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Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér also stressed that joint European action was needed against illegal migration and terrorism. Presenting data from Hungary, the Minister said that the number of migrants had drastically increased in Hungary: while last year, altogether 42,000 asylum requests were filed, over the first three months of this year already 36,268 cases have been registered. This is a huge burden to the border police and organisations receiving and taking care of migrants, he said. We must look for solutions and possibilities facilitating the situation of countries affected by this problem together, Mr. Pintér underlined.

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Former Minsiter of Interior of Slovenia Dragutin Mate explained that over the last year 714,000 people filed for asylum in Europe, which accounts for a 47 per cent increase within one year. Most of the migrants came from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Eritrea. He emphasised that if we wish to help those coming from war-torn areas effectively, we first have to help those living in refugee camps.

(Ministry of Interior)