Vucic, Orban, Nehammer on Countering Illegal Migration

Viktor Orban and Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/DRAGAN GOJIC)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in Budapest, on Oct. 3, that Serbia would align with the European Union’s visa regime, so that no one could use Serbia to reach the West illegally.

“The number of Syrian, Afghani and Pakistani refugees has risen again, while there’s a strong influx of Russians as well. There are 17,000 registered Russians who have been granted a year’s stay. It’s not a small burden for a fairly small country like Serbia, “Vucic said at a joint press conference after a trilateral meeting with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Hungarian Prime minister Viktor Orban.

Vucic promised that Serbia would be a responsible and reliable partner to its Austrian and Hungarian friends.

The Austrian chancellor said that at today’s summit the tree states agreed to expand cooperation between their police departments to curb migration more effectively, and that Vienna would offer to Serbia every technical and professional assistance to send illegal migrants back to their places of origin.

“We have received 70,000 asylum requests filed by people from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and Austria already hosts 80,000 Ukrainian refugees, which makes a serious security issue. We should do everything to counter illegal and regular migrations together,” Nehammer said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Orban said hat Hungary, Serbia and Austria had been seriously affected by the problem of illegal migration, exerting enormous energy and costs, but the issue was overshadowed by the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis.

Orban said that of all migrant routes leading to Europe “one travelling across the Western Balkans was hit the hardest,” and it would be in the best interest of Europe to move it “more to the south of the Serbian-Hungarian border.” The Hungarian PM said the next meeting would be in Belgrade, where heads of the relevant government departments would meet to define the next steps, while Vienna was expected to host the third meeting.