The prime ministers of Hungary and Slovakia, Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico, and the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, met this Tuesday to talk about immigration in the Slovak border town of Komárno. The Hungarian and Slovak leaders have embraced the new European euphemism, “innovative solutions” to the irregular entry of people, and have defended the construction of centers for asylum seekers outside the EU. In an appearance after the meeting, they advocated the shielding of the EU’s external borders and asked for European funding to achieve this.
The most fractious partners of the EU – who, along with Vucic, are also the European leaders closest to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin –, on this occasion, are in line with the current that is becoming the majority in Europe, in full rightwing of the immigration policy. The populists Orbán and Fico are betting on the Italian model promoted by the ultra Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which governments from across the political spectrum and Brussels are observing closely. Italy has built its first migrant detention center in Albania, a facility to hold asylum seekers who have arrived in Italian territory while waiting for their requests to be resolved. After the transfer of a first group of people last week, which was overturned by justice, the Executive approved a decree this Monday to force the deportations.
The ultra-conservative Orbán has described the Italian-style detention centers as a temporary measure for a limited number of migrants. The most widespread solution should be, according to him, a second type of centers “established directly in the last country from which migrants head to the EU. For example, on the southern coast of the Mediterranean, in the case of Africans who come from Africa,” he stated, as reported in the Slovak newspaper SME. The construction and operation of these facilities should be financed with European funds, said the Hungarian leader.
“Only the people about whom decisions have been made [sobre el derecho a quedarse en el territorio comunitario] “They must enter the territory of the European Union,” Orbán also urged on social networks after the meeting. Hungary has a long history of clashes with Brussels and a million-dollar fine for violating the right to asylum. One of its most controversial measures is precisely the impossibility of requesting asylum on Hungarian soil. After the crisis of 2015 and 2016, when more than a million people arrived in the EU – a good number of them to take refuge from the war in Syria – Hungary reinforced its borders and established that asylum seekers can only submit their applications at the Budapest embassies in kyiv and Belgrade. “Until now only one model has worked against illegal migration, this is the Hungarian model,” he also stated this Tuesday in the city on the banks of the Danube.
Rejection of the new immigration pact
National-populist leaders have rejected the European migration pact, the main commitment reached last year by the community institutions, after years of blockade, to try to contain arrivals to the EU and at the same time establish a minimum distribution of asylum seekers between countries. community. “It is not a solution, but part of the problem,” said the Prime Minister of Hungary, which, along with Poland, has been the country most opposed to the agreement. Fico has also expressed his rejection of the mandatory distribution of refugees. As explained in a joint appearance, there are three currents regarding the pact: those who reject it, those who insist on its accelerated adoption, and a third group, among which is Slovakia, who propose innovative solutions and reforms in legislation, according to the slovak newspaper Pravda.
Fico and Orbán have thanked Vucic for his support in controlling irregular entries through the Western Balkan route, which crosses the Serbian border with the EU. “This year there are 80% fewer migrants (in Serbia) than last year,” said Vucic. “We will continue working together and I believe the result will be good,” the Serbian leader has promised, who has clarified, however, that his country has no intention of hosting any migrant center on its territory. According to Frontex data, the number of illegal crossings on that road fell to less than 17,000 attempts in the first new months of 2024.
The summit of the three countries focused on immigration occurs at a time when the issue marks the European agenda. “Immigration can overthrow governments,” said Fico, according to several Slovak media. “We were right when we said very clearly at the beginning of the migration crisis that the basis of the fight against illegal immigration is the protection of the external borders of the EU,” declared the Slovak Prime Minister, who has urged that the policy to stopping migration is a priority in the next Union budget.
Orbán has once again challenged Brussels with the threat of sending buses with migrants. “There is a situation close to rebellion in the European Union,” said the Hungarian Prime Minister, who has mentioned the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, as part of that revolt. The first has just proposed the temporary suspension of the right to asylum in the event of a crisis, such as that orchestrated by Moscow and Minsk on the border that Poland shares with Belarus. The second imposed controls on its nine borders from September to March, a measure that compromises the Schengen area of free movement.