Serbia promised to tighten visa rules for countries in which particularly large numbers of migrants are currently entering the EU in return for strengthening border protection with North Macedonia.
The migration situation on the “Balkan route” was discussed by Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg with ministerial colleagues from Serbia and Hungary in Belgrade on Thursday.
“Serbia, Hungary and Austria have a common problem, and therefore they must solve it together,” said Serbian Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin.
Details on how Serbia will be supported on its southern border with North Macedonia are to be clarified at the level of officials.
Vulin spoke of financial support from Hungary and Austria to reinforce the existing police patrols on the Serbian border.
Austria has been supporting Serbia with police officers in border protection since 2020, and, in early September this year, Karner announced to increase in the number of Austrian police officers from 50 to 70. Ten Austrian officers are currently deployed on the Serbian-North Macedonian border.
Further, at a press conference with Vulin, Interior Minister Karner thanked Serbia for its commitment to align visa rules with those of the European Union in return.
This is because people from India and Tunisia, among others, can currently enter Serbia without a visa and have recently been increasingly using smugglers to travel to the EU.
Austria is particularly affected by this, says Karner.
Given the surge in migrants entering the EU via Serbia, there are also suspicions that Russia may play a role.
Serbia, a candidate for EU membership, is a close ally of Moscow and still refuses to go along with the sanctions imposed by the EU against Russia.
