At a press conference in Hungary on Monday, Interior Minister Roman Mikulec pointed out that the pressure on the external Schengen border is still enormous, despite the massive measures introduced by Hungary. Together with Slovak Police Chief Stefan Hamran, Mikulec visited Slovak police officers stationed in Hungary with an eye towards helping patrol the country's southern border with Serbia. "The pressure on the external border - in this case the Serbian-Hungarian one - is enormous and even with the massive measures in place, it's not possible to prevent all migrants from crossing the border," said Mikulec. He pointed out that Hungary has managed to stop up to 260,000 migrants from crossing the border this year. In the presence of Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter, Mikulec praised the cooperation with Hungarian police members and pointed out that the protection of internal EU borders is nowhere near as efficient as the protection of the external border. "We'll also be pressuring the European Commission and Frontex as well as other agencies, so that this is treated not only as Hungary's problem but a pan-European problem," said Mikulec. On 20 October, Slovakia sent 40 police officers to the Hungarian-Serbian border. They are helping their Hungarian counterparts there to ease the pressure caused by illegal migration. Mikulec reiterated at the time that the solution to illegal migration is to protect the external Schengen border, not internal border controls. Slovak police officers operate in mixed patrols. Their mission is expected to last two months, after which it is to be reassessed.
Source: TASR
