DEU countries Hungary and Austria, along with accession candidate Serbia, are seeking to increase cooperation to encourage illegal migration. This was announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Chancellor Karl Nehammer and President Aleksandar Vučić on Monday following a meeting in Budapest. The point is that “the line of protection was moved further south”, as host Orbán put it.

Hungary’s borders are under siege; this year alone, border guards have resisted 180,000 attempts at illegal crossings. In addition, the methods of smugglers are increasing, they are now using live firearms against each other, but also against the border guards. Such cooperation requires a “new dimension”.

Therefore, consultations at the working level are planned to find a solution, as well as further political meetings in Belgrade (minister of the interior) and Vienna (again head of government). For now, the three did not go into details. The talks are in support of Serbia and North Macedonia in border protection and the goal that asylum applications can only be made in centers outside the European Union. Nehammer also announced that Serbia had agreed to adapt its visa rules to those of the European Union.

In recent days, Nehammer has complained that the countries of origin with the most current asylum seekers are India, Pakistan and Tunisia, which have little prospect of being granted asylum. Most of them first fly by plane to Belgrade, where they don’t need a visa.

In addition to the Balkan route, Orbán and Vučić also show the high number of refugees due to the war in Ukraine. Orbán speaks of “a million refugees from the east” – these are Ukrainians, most of whom travel to other western countries. Vučić said 17,000 people from the Russian Federation had received one-year residence permits in Serbia, plus an unknown number of those who were denied permits.