Hungary's interior minister said that if efforts to protect external borders fail, the Schengen area will not remain the same.
According to MTI, Sándor Pintér made the remarks following talks with his Visegrad Group counterparts this week.
During the meeting, held under Hungary’s V4 presidency, the interior ministers decided to offer help in protecting the external Schengen borders to all countries concerned.
Minister Pintér said the migration crisis would require an adequate response unlike the European Union’s current one which involves letting in everyone and then distributing them internally.
The ministers made a thorough review of a European Commission proposal on the protection of internal Schengen borders and agreed to formulate a joint position on the basis of further expert studies, he said.
The minister noted that the EU member states that had approved the mandatory redistribution quotas failed to fulfil their own expectations, with much fewer people being redistributed then what these countries agreed to take.
He said that other methods need to be sought because neither the redistribution of approved migrants nor the permanent relocation mechanism would offer a solution.
The minister also said the V4 acted and will act in line with the law and agreed that the Schengen treaty outlines in detail how the external borders must be protected.