Members of the Salzburg Forum ministers’ conference discussed migration, border protection and security in Budapest, the Minister of Interior told reporters in the presence of representatives of participant countries at an international press conference on Tuesday.

“The parties determined that our environment has become more secure compared to two years ago, but that we must take great care to ensure that we can also continue to guarantee this in future”, Sándor Pintér said, adding that they had also agreed on reinforcing the protection of external borders and that databases must be continuously refreshed and monitored.

”The participants of the forum agreed that if a member state is in need of help, then they will provide assistance to each other in the interests of assuring border protection within the framework of Frontex”, he indicated.

The Interior Minister stressed the importance of registering people who succeed in entering the EU, and this is also very important for individual states to share this information and data with each other as rapidly as possible.

“The exchange of information and data is the foundation for assuring security”, he said. “Certain European Union organisations must also take part in this”, he added, citing Europol, Frontex and Interpol as examples.

The Minister also said the parties had agreed that Frontex should also be deployed in Serbia and Macedonia.

Mr. Pintér told reporters that the Austrian delegation had prepared a draft plan of action, which he said he hoped could be successfully adopted during the Polish presidency.

In representation of Poland, the upcoming President of the Salzburg Forum, State Secretary Jakub Skiba told reporters: “Although Poland is the northernmost country of the Forum’s members, it fully understands the problems faced by countries that are being affected by illegal migration”. “The Western Balkan route for illegal immigration is currently inactive, but that does not mean that traffic cannot increase, and this is something we must prepare for”, he noted. The polish politician said he does not claim that there is a direct link between immigrating and terrorism, but the “pro-migrant lobby”, which is “based on legal abuse”, wants to mix up the refugee issue with immigration.

Deputy Director General Wilhelm Sandrisser from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs spoke about the fact that the participants are proud of the Forum’s achievements so far and are working on realising the action plan drawn up for the current session. Bulgarian Minister of Interior Valentin Radev highlighted the fact that the parties were able to discuss migration and the fight against terrorism for two days in a constructive environment, adding that thanks to the work of the Forum, Europe will soon find a way of stopping illegal immigration.

Croatian Deputy Interior Minister Damir Trut said his country was affected by migration and the fight against terrorism and was also sharing the experience it had gained in assuring the security of tourists with the Forum.

Czech Deputy Minister for Internal Security Jiri Novaček also emphasised the importance of border protection, noting that the joint European refugee system had also been evaluated at the meeting. “The members of the Salzburg Forum agreed that the automatic distribution of refugees is unnatural”, he said.

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State Secretary Robert Marin, representing Romania, said the most important topic of the Forum had been access to data and the fight against terrorism. He also thanked the members of the forum for assisting in enabling the membership of Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia.

Slovenian State Secretary Andrej Spenga said the meeting had been constructive and drew attention to the  importance of regional cooperation, adding that the goal was for the framework of such cooperation to ensure that the parties were not only connected by geographical routes, but also by common interests. “Security challenges cannot be tied to boundaries; they represent a danger to all of us and we can only face them together”, he stressed.

The countries of Central Europe established the Saltsburg Forum interior security partnership in 2000 on the initiative of Austria. The member states of the Forum are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

(MTI)