Slovakian authorities have announced that they will introduce controls at the country’s border with Hungary today in order to reduce the number of migrants who attempt to reach the country in an unlawful way.
The new changes will become effective starting from October 5 and will be kept in place until October 14.
Authorities in Slovakia are dealing with an influx of migrants who use this country as a transit route to reach other EU states.
A total of 24,500 irregular migrants have been detained by authorities in Slovakia in the first eight months of this year, while the police detained just hundreds of irregular migrants per year before.
Recently, Austria, Czechia and Poland introduced border controls with Slovakia. Such a decision was confirmed by Austria’s Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner.
We have to control effectively before the smugglers change their routes. The focus is on combating the brutal and inhumane smuggler mafia. That’s why border controls with Slovakia will be resumed from midnight on Wednesday. The controls carried out so far in the area near the border will be intensified into border point controls.
But the move was criticised by the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Ludovit Odor, stressing that it is needed to find a Europe-wide solution to the problem of migrants.
The increased number of migrants led authorities in Germany to announce that they will also increase the number of police patrols along smuggling routes on the border with Poland and Czechia to prevent an influx of migrants.
The new measures were confirmed by the Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. Such a decision came following police raids in Germany that found over 100 Syrian citizens inside apartments searched in connection with a smuggling ring.
German Finance Minister Christian Linder, through a post on his X account, formerly known as Twitter, wrote that his ministry would support the increased border control with additional customs officers.
Border controls are to be intensified to stop smuggling and illegal migration. To ensure this succeeds quickly, I have decided that customs will support this urgent task with 500 staff.
The figures from the Interior Ministry indicate that Slovakia saw a total of 39.688 migrants since the beginning of this year, thus accounting for an increase of 15,611 detained foreigners compared to 2022’s statistics.
Slovakia’s police force lacks about 2,000 officers, according to a report from Balkan Insight, while the border is four times longer than the Hungarian-Serbian border.
