Hungary, Italy hold identical views on border protection, says interior minister

Hungary and Italy have identical views on protecting Europe’s borders and on how to prevent “masses of people, terrorists and other unwelcome persons” from entering the European Union, Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said on Thursday after talks with Matteo Salvini, his Italian counterpart.

At a joint press conference after the meeting, Pintér thanked Italy for its efforts to “keep uninvited guests outside the EU’s borders.” He praised Italy’s “results” in accomplishing that feat on sea, saying that the country’s efforts benefitted all EU countries, including Hungary.

New arrivals should not be distributed within the EU but stopped from reaching it, Pintér said.

The Visegrád Group realises that non-EU countries need help in “vetting” people on their way to the EU, so Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are “going to great effort” in Libya as well as in the Balkans, where they support local border protection units, he said.

Salvini said that they had paid “an interesting visit” to the border crossing between Hungary and Serbia at Röszke, where Hungary operates a transit zone for migrants seeking asylum. The Hungarian government has “quickly and effectively” taken control of some 600km of the border, thus putting an end to people smuggling and trafficking, Salvini said.