Central European countries' border services to hold regular coordination meetings

The border services of the Visegrad Group countries as well as Germany and Austria will hold regular consultations, which will begin in the coming weeks, with the aim of improving coordination regarding illegal migration, Interior Minister Vít Rakušan stated after Monday's talks with his central European counterparts. The interior ministers of Czechia, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Germany met in Szeged, Hungary to draw up a plan on the basis of which border controls could be ended. The meeting, initiated by Czechia, was called to discuss migration solutions.

Central European countries have introduced temporary border controls in recent months in an attempt to ease the influx of migrants, mainly from the Middle East and Afghanistan. Although all the countries in Monday's meeting are members of the EU's Schengen Area, which allows for the free movement of people and goods, reintroduction of internal border controls is permitted in exceptional cases.