Countries in the central and southeastern European region are to join forces in a common security plan to control migrant routes across the Balkans and to fight human smuggling, it has been revealed.
István Simicskó, Hungary’s minister of defense, announced the plans following a meeting of interior and defense ministers of the region in Vienna on Wednesday.
Minister Simicskó said that participants had similar positions in terms of managing the migrant crisis and were ready to cooperate in the implementation of such a plan, which should be completed by April.
The minister added that the parties were in agreement that their plan would contribute to “efficient, Europe-level cooperation”.
State Secretary Károly Kontrát said the central and southeastern European plan would be a milestone in the fight against illegal migration. He added it is important that the EU should make decisions in line with the conclusions of the Vienna talks to enable the community to “combat illegal migration efficiently”.
“Hungary has, from the beginning, stressed that illegal migration must be stopped; the EU’s largest members now share that position,” Kontrát said.
The Vienna talks were attended by ministers from Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Hungary, as well as officials of the Central European Defense Cooperation.