EU Presidency: interior ministers discuss security, migration in Budapest

European Union interior ministers discussed the bloc’s security, linking large-scale IT systems and the external dimensions of migration at an informal meeting in Budapest on Monday, Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said.

The ministers discussed “the future of the area based on freedom, security and the enforcement of law”, and reviewed the tasks of the next five years related to home affairs, Pintér told a press conference.

He said they had identified the shortcomings that had led to the EU’s security becoming vulnerable.

The officials, he said, had agreed that the EU’s security could not be guaranteed without cooperation and that the bloc needed to be quicker in responding to challenges.

They had also agreed, he added, on the need to set up a central economic fund in the interest of carrying out the necessary tasks.

Concerning the EU interoperability package aimed at linking large-scale IT systems in the fields of border control and asylum, Pinter said the bloc was expected to introduce a border control system around October-November that would “significantly improve internal security and aid the fight against terrorism”.

The meeting also touched on the external dimension of migration, Pinter said, adding that the meeting’s participants had been in agreement that it was impossible to make significant progress without cooperation with third countries.

He said they had also discussed the need to develop an institutional system for repatriating those who are ineligible for asylum as well as for speeding up repatriations and making them more effective.

But this was only possible through cooperation, Pintér said, adding that it also required setting up a joint economic fund.

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