Serbia, Hungary, Austria reach agreement on readmission

TANJUG/MILOS MILIVOJEVIC

Serbia, Hungary and Austria reached agreement on the readmission of migrants which would include sharing expenses, President Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday.

He told a joint news conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer that the three countries would invest joint effort to solve the problem of illegal migration following Wednesday’s signing of a memorandum of understanding. “We reached an important agreement on readmission, that is the expelling of those who have no chance of being granted asylum,” Vucic said.

According to him, readmission will be done by aircraft. “That is very expensive. We will share the expenses with Hungary and Austria and have agreed that it will be a fair division,” he said and added that the plan will be implemented by the end of the year. He said the number of illegal migrants this year is almost double what it was in 2021 forcing Serbia to consider a change of visa regime.

Vucic said the border police will increase its presence along the border with North Macedonia. “We want to move the defense line south and then further south with North Macedonia. That protects Europe and this country. We don’t want to be a parking lot for illegal migrants even though we have shown understanding for refugees,” he said.

Nehammer said that the three countries’ partnership to tackle illegal migrations, and combat the exploitation of people and organized crime is necessary because the European asylum system has failed. “Some European Union states have been forced to find new forms of cooperation outside the framework of what is possible in the EU,” he said and called for an end to so-called asylum tourism from India, Tunisia and other countries.

The chancellor said Austrian police officers were deployed on the ground with their Serbian counterparts and would be reinforced with drones, vehicles and thermal cameras and added that the deportation of migrants would be more efficient.

Orban said that he believes Serbia should already have been admitted to the EU. “If Serbia defends its borders, it is defending not only its own territory but also Hungary and Austria and the entire EU which is why we are grateful to Serbia. It would be much easier to defend ourselves from migration if Serbia were in the EU,” he said.