Interior ministers met the EU commissioner after the Belarus conference. Cooperation with third countries and the repatriation of migrants is to be expanded.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) met the EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, Oliver Várhely, for a working meeting in Vienna following the Belarus Conference. The two politicians agreed that the European Union had to improve its external border protection. In addition, the blackmail attempt by the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko should not be successful, it said from Nehammer’s office to the APA.
“The EU countries on the external border, such as Poland and Lithuania, need our full support and solidarity in order to cope with the massive provocations by Belarus. I also spoke today with Commissioner Várhelyi about the fact that the Commission must support border protection instead of opening reception centers We are absolutely in agreement on that, “postulated Nehammer. “I would like to emphasize once again that the instrumentalization of migrants by the Belarusian regime is completely unacceptable and must stop,” said the Hungarian EU Commissioner.
Further topics were the situation in the Balkans and Greece as well as the cooperation with third countries in order to prevent illegal migration in advance. With the “Platform against illegal migration, Austria is placing a strong emphasis on the subject of repatriations in order to send a clear signal to smugglers and irregular migrants that people without a residence permit will also be consistently brought back”, said Nehammer.
Várhelyi said he will visit Bosnia-Herzegovina this week and “underline the need for sustainable, long-term solutions that include solid border management and well-functioning asylum procedures – as well as cooperation on returns and robust approaches to combating smuggling networks.”
(WHAT)