Austrian, Hungarian Prime Ministers: Cooperation with Serbia Successful, EU Asylum System Dysfunctional

Undocumented migrants (BETAPHOTO/Interior Ministry/MO)

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at a third summit with Serbia on migrations in Vienna, on July 7, that the three states were cooperating successfully, but that the European Union’s asylum system was dysfunctional.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Nehammer and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Orban said that Hungary’s policy was very simple – no one should step into its territory before asylum proceedings had been completed. “Other states, too, should use the same procedure, but many don’t. The EU decided to introduce national reception quotas for migrants, thus creating migrant ghettos and camps. Hungary has an efficient system, and we are not going to replace it with the Union’s ineffective model. Hungary will not accept the mandatory quotas, and will not have migrant ghettos and camps,” Orban was explicit.

Chancellor Nehammer said that Austria, Hungary and Serbia were allies in their struggle against illegal migration, including the fight against organized crime and human trafficking. “This is necessary, because the Union’s asylum system is not working. That’s why it is important that we cooperate bilaterally, as our states have been heavily affected by illegal migration,” the chancellor explained.

Nehammer added that Austria, acting together with Hungary and Serbia, “managed to reverse the surge” of migrants in the EU, and thanked Belgrade for introducing visas for India and Tunisia, explaining that this had considerably slashed the number of illegal migrants in his country.