Hungarian police also protect Serbia's southern border, besides Hungary's

The Serbian border is also protected by Hungarian police offices, who are working with their Serbian and Austrian colleagues to prevent illegal border crossings.

Budapest, 2017. június 28. A Szerbiából hazatérõ magyar rendõri kontingens tagjai fogadásukon a Készenléti Rendõrség budapesti központjában 2017. június 28-án. A rendõrök a magyar-szerb határ szerbiai oldalán teljesítettek szolgálatot. MTI Fotó: Koszticsák Szilárd Fotó: Koszticsák Szilárd

Hungarian policemen are on duty on the Serbian side of the Serbian-North Macedonian border with the aim of curbing illegal immigration and people smuggling, Bence Retvari, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Ministry of Interior, reported from Presevo, Serbia.

Hungarians are protecting not only Hungary, but the whole of Europe, including Austria, from illegal immigrants,

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said at the Hungarian-Austrian-Serbian migration summit in Vienna in July. Praising the work of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in this cooperation between the nations, the premier said:

Without Serbia and Hungary, there would be hundreds of thousands more illegal migrants in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands than there are now.

Bence Retvari visited the thirty-five-strong Hungarian police contingent and also met with the Serbian national police chief and the head of the border police. The Serbian partners stressed that

they were very grateful for the presence of the Hungarian police and praised the high quality of their professional work.

The cooperation is excellent with the Serbian and Austrian police officers, with whom they communicate mainly in English, the state secretary said.

The Hungarian police have been working in the area for two weeks, he said.

They patrol day and night, in 12-hour shifts, in pairs with a Serbian policeman, directly on the Serbian side of the border, which is equipped with a fence and cameras.

The Hungarian police officers are accommodated in Serbia, in two hotels of a nearby city, with their accommodation paid for by the Hungarian government.

The cooperation between the police forces of Serbia, Hungary and Austria makes it possible to stop and turn back illegal immigrants and people smugglers at the border between the three countries before they reach Hungary's southern border, the state secretary said. He added:

This tripartite cooperation could also serve as a good example for the European Union of how countries inside and outside the EU can protect the EU's external borders.

Serbian authorities hope that the police cooperation will continue for as long as possible. As a result of the presence of Hungarian and Austrian police officers, and the installation of cameras and a fence in a small section of the border, the number of illegal border crossers have noticeably decreased.

Although some of them appear  at other border sections, but it is clear that they do not succeed at points where border protection had been stepped up, Mr Retvari added.

Bence Retvari also visited the refugee reception centre in Presevo, where large numbers of illegal migrants continue to arrive.

The open camp accommodates between 1,000 and 2,000 people at a time, but since the outbreak of the migration crisis in 2015, the reception center has already received 1.5-2 million people, equivalent to the population of Budapest.

Mr Retvari said that if the migration plans previously proposed by the EU in its Justice and Home Affairs Council had been adopted, these people would have appeared on Hungary's southern border, and the Hungarian government does not want to see such camps established in Hungary.

The main purpose of the state secretary's visit was to thank the Hungarian police for their service. Their activity further strengthens Hungary's security.

Cover photo: Members of the Hungarian police contingent returning from Serbia at a reception at the headquarters of the Hungarian Police in Budapest on 28 June 2017. The police officers were on duty on the Serbian side of the Hungarian-Serbian border (Source:MTI/Richard Kosticsak).