Polish reinforcement to be sent to Hungary border

Poland will send another contingent of border guards to help patrol Hungary’s southern border, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced after a meeting with his Visegrád Four (V4) counterparts in the Polish capital, Warsaw on Monday.

Last year, Poland sent 55 border guards to help Hungary with its border protection efforts. Blaszczak was quoted by the Hungarian news agency MTI as saying that the protection of the European Union’s external borders will remain a priority of the V4 under Poland’s presidency.

Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said the help Hungary will receive from its V4 partners will allow the country to better enforce its new border regulations that entered into effect earlier this month.

He said that only 17 migrants managed to get past border police and enter the country since the new rules have been in effect. Under Hungary’s new border rules, illegal entrants stopped within eight kilometres of the border are to be escorted back over the border and offered an opportunity to apply for asylum at a transit zone. Migrants who comply with authorities and apply for asylum will not be expelled from the country and their appeals will be processed without delay.

The presence of foreign border guard units is now welcomed by Hungary but analysts note that only a year ago, Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán refused a Czech offer for reinforcements for the Hungarian-Serbian (Schengen) border.