Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) met his counterparts from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia in Bratislava to discuss views on migration. Despite earlier contention, Slovakia’s Minister of the Interior Ivan Šimko expressed harmony among the group. Hungary and Poland had previously rejected the EU’s asylum and migration package, which requires member states refusing to accept refugees to pay €20,000 per rejected migrant. Šimko had criticised Hungary’s failure to register asylum seekers, but the recent meeting reportedly proceeded without discord. Cooperation in managing border situations was emphasized, with Austria supporting Hungary’s border management. Countries’ border capabilities have been technically enhanced with detection and radar devices, facilitating the push for asylum procedures in ‘safe third countries. Austria’s ‘Red-White-Red Card,’ aimed at skilled migrants, was presented as a legal path for migration. Šimko called for protection for refugees but not economic migrants. This gathering revealed lesser divisions among the Visegrád Group, established in 1991 by Poland, Hungary, and then-Czechoslovakia for EU and NATO accession.
Source: volksblatt.at
