German police to help patrol Hungarian border

Budapest, August 4 (MTI) – Hungary will receive a contingent of German police officers to help patrol its southern border from the second half of August, the national police headquarters ORFK told MTI on Thursday, confirming earlier reports by German daily Bild.

ORFK said the German contingent will assist their Hungarian colleagues for a period of one month as part of a border protection operation organised by European border agency Frontex. The size of the contingent is not yet known. Hungary already has two German officers helping to patrol its borders.

Frontex has sent a total of 151 foreign police officers to Hungary so far this year and there are currently 42 foreign officers stationed at the country’s borders, ORFK said. Most of them are Austrian officers who arrived in late July, early August. Hungary is currently also receiving help from Romanian, Bulgarian, Finnish, Polish and Italian officers. Hungarian police are also being helped by Serbian field observers.

ORFK noted that there are a further 25 Slovak officers helping to patrol the southern border as part of a separate, bilateral agreement between Hungary and Slovakia. A contingent of Czech officers is also expected to arrive at the beginning of September under a Visegrad Four agreement, and Poland has also offered its help to Hungary, ORFK added.

Source: MTI