Slovakia to send 500 soldiers to Hungarian border

The Slovakian government led by Lajos Ódor adopted several measures to reduce the wave of refugees coming from Hungary. One of these is to send soldiers to the border.

The cabinet adopted measures to deal with the refugee crisis. Prime Minister Lajos Ódor said that the most important goal is people’s safety, 24.hu reports.

“We do not want to make any compromises on this issue. We want them to not only be safe, but to feel safe,”

Paraméter quotes Ódor as saying.

Lajos Ódor understands that it causes fear in some people when they see a large group of strangers in their surroundings, but he emphasized that the refugees have not committed any crimes so far. The government’s goal is to provide people with more thorough information. If this is lacking, fake news spreads, which some parties can exploit in the political struggle, he added.

500 soldiers at the Hungarian-Slovakian border

In the future, according to the needs, up to 500 soldiers will be able to help the police work. The prime minister justified this by saying that at the beginning of the summer, a few hundred refugees arrived every week, but now, a few thousand come weekly. The decision can free up police capacity, which can speed up the administration of refugees, since they don’t want to settle, they want to go on to Western countries.

The government would abolish the mandatory issuance of the so-called “Slovak residence certificate”. The reason is that refugees interpret it as a kind of residence permit, which authorises them to stay in the Schengen area. Because of the document, people smugglers only see themselves as passenger carriers when they take such refugees, 24.hu writes.

Number of refugees increased

Lajos Ódor admitted that the number of refugees had indeed increased. As he said, they are not coming from Mars, they are coming through Hungary, but the same number or maybe even more are trying to get into Austria from Hungary.

Ódor called the protection of the Schengen border and joint patrolling on the Hungarian side of the border important. The Slovak government does not want to introduce border controls, but there will be a greater police and military presence. According to the Prime Minister, a joint EU solution to the refugee situation must be found.

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