Visegrád interior ministers meet in Budapest

Interior ministers of the four Visegrád countries — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia — and their Austrian counterpart met for talks in Budapest on Tuesday.

After the talks, Hungary’s Sándor Pintér called the Visegrád group “pioneers” and said that more and more countries were now following their policies. He insisted that the four states saw eye to eye in all areas, and added that Hungary’s presidency in the past one year had been successful.

Over the past year, the V4 made significant strides in protecting Hungary’s border and also helped other countries, he said. And now there is a chance to provide help to Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, he added.

Pintér also underlined the importance of eliminating human smuggling.

He reassured his Slovak colleague that Slovakia would have Hungary’s full backing during its own V4 presidency over the next 12 months.

Pintér asked his Austrian counterpart to fight to achieve the goals of the central European countries during its upcoming European Union rotating presidency. The aim is to have all member states on the same page on the issues of migration, border protection and open internal borders, he said.