Austria, Hungary and Serbia discuss migration

Austria, Hungary and Serbia are once more discussing the issue of migration today. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (both ÖVP) travel to Belgrade for a meeting with ministerial colleagues from Serbia and Hungary. It should deal with the details and the concrete implementation of the plans to curb irregular migration on the Balkan route. The heads of government and heads of state of the federal states had agreed on increased cooperation on Monday.

In Belgrade, Schallenberg and Karner will meet the Foreign Ministers of Hungary and Serbia, Peter Szijjarto and Nikola Selakovic, as well as Serbia’s Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin, Finance Minister Sinisa Mali and Defense Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic. According to the Ministry of the Interior, this should involve increased protection of the Serbian border with North Macedonia, the harmonization of Serbian visa regulations and support for Serbia in the return of migrants.

Serbia had already promised to tighten its visa rules at the meeting of Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Budapest on Monday. Among other things, people from India and Tunisia can currently enter Serbia without a visa and have recently been increasingly using smugglers to continue to the European Union.