Serbia and Hungary have different ways of protecting their borders, but the decision of the Government of Hungary to build a border barrier along the Hungarian-Serbian green border has not hampered bilateral relations, Minister of Justice László Trócsányi said in an interview broadcast on 14 October 2015.

Speaking on Hungarian television channel Pannon RTV in Serbia on the side-line of a conference on minority rights in Subotica (Szabadka), Minister Trócsányi said that one of the most important tasks of the Government of Hungary is to uphold public order, therefore it was unacceptable that migrants had entered Hungary through the green border and that they “had crossed the country by walking along the motorway”.

The Minister said that migrants had no reason to enter through the green border, since Serbia is a safe country, and the lives of migrants are not under threat there. Migrants then bypassed transit zones, refused to cooperate with Hungarian authorities and wanted to reach Germany at all cost, Minister Trócsányi underlined. Since the Schengen rules on border controls stipulate that Hungary must protect the EU’s external borders, Hungary had to act, the Minister said, adding that Serbia understood Hungary’s decisions.

Minister Trócsányi stressed that Hungary supports Serbia’s EU integration and reiterated that Hungary would help its southern neighbour during the accession process. He said that candidate member states can set target accession dates, adding however, that the date of accession is often not up to the countries themselves, but the European Commission.

(Ministry of Justice)