Hungarian Police Units Leave for North Macedonia

A farewell ceremony for the Hungarian police contingents leaving for Northern Macedonia was held in Budapest on Tuesday. One of the contingents will be deployed on the Serbian - North Macedonian border, while the other will be on the North Macedonian - Greek border. Both units will consist of about thirty members.

Earlier, Hungarian police officers went to North Macedonia under a bilateral agreement. Bilateral border police cooperation with Serbia has been upgraded to trilateral cooperation since 2023 with Austria joining the initiative.

From April 5, 2023, the contingent will have 36 police officers, and from May 31, 2023, 50 police officers will participate in the operation, where they will carry out border surveillance tasks.

In North Macedonia, a total of 2,362 Hungarian units have so far assisted the Macedonian side in border policing tasks on 82 occasions, in monthly rotations.

The main tasks of Hungarian police officers are patrols to prevent and detect illegal border crossings and to apprehend illegal migrants. They also play an important role in the apprehension of people smugglers.