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Interior ministers from six EU countries are meeting in Hungary to discuss efforts to combat migrant smuggling. The meeting takes place against a backdrop of several EU countries introducing temporary border controls, amid heightened concerns over irregular migration.
The Hungarian Minister of the Interior, Sándor Pintér, receives his counterparts from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland on Monday November 27 to discuss human smuggling operations and illegal immigration.
Several of the six European Union member state governments have temporarily established fixed and mobile checkpoints along their borders with other EU countries to prevent smugglers from transporting migrants to central and Western via routes crossing the Balkans.
Slovakia, for example, announced temporary border controls at its border with Hungary on October 5. In the Schengen visa-free travel zone, borders generally do not have passport or document checks.
Migrant smuggling is a highly profitable and highly organized activity that poses significant dangers to migrants. Certain smuggling networks transport thousands of migrants to Europe.
Earlier this month, two men believed to be smugglers were arrested in Hungary following a chase in which they opened fire on the police. 21 migrants were found inside the suspects’ van.
Furthermore, on Monday, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights said Hungary should abandon its proposed “sovereignty” law because it grants broad investigative powers with little democratic oversight. The controversial bill, submitted to Parliament last week, would create an authority to monitor political interference and recommend changes to regulations.
Learn more: The EU’s migration dilemma: is closing borders the solution?
The revival of border controls
Monday’s talks between interior ministers are taking place in the southern Hungarian town of Szeged, near a border fence that Hungary erected along its border with Serbia in 2015.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser will also be present. His presence comes as Europe’s largest economy grapples with the highest annual number of irregular migrant arrivals since the so-called migration crisis of 2015.
In October, Faeser announced plans to reintroduce fixed border controls on Germany’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. The controls were extended several times.
Since new controls were introduced last month, German police have recorded a 40% drop in unauthorized entries on Germany’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland, according to a newspaper article.
Nearly 234,000 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time between January and September, an increase of 73% compared to the same period last year.
Around 40% of German municipalities say they have reached their limits in terms of resources for accommodation, care and integration of refugees, especially since the country is currently hosting more than a million Ukrainian refugees since the invasion Russian in February 2022.
Read also: Serbian police arrest more than 4,500 migrants in raids
with dpa
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