Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter, along with counterparts from Germany, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland, met on Monday to discuss efforts to combat human trafficking and irregular migration.
In response to the influx of migrants through the Balkan routes into Central and Western Europe, many countries have temporarily established fixed and mobile checkpoints along their borders.
These borders, within the Schengen Area, typically do not undergo passport or document inspections.
The discussions took place in the city of Szeged in southern Hungary, near a border fence Hungary erected along its border with Serbia in 2015.
This meeting is particularly timely as Germany, Europe’s largest economy, records its highest annual figures for unauthorized migrant arrivals since the 2015 migration crisis.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who attended the meeting, has been at the forefront of addressing this issue. In October last year, Faeser announced plans to reinstate border checks along Germany’s frontiers with Poland, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland.
The sharp increase in asylum seekers in the first half of 2023 has overwhelmed immigration centers, leading to months of disputes among officials over the distribution of costs and burdens.
In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel last October, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz emphasized the need for widespread deportation of individuals without the right to stay in Germany, highlighting the country’s efforts to manage its immigration challenges.
