By UKOM
Minister of the Interior, Aleš Hojs, met with his Hungarian colleague Sandor Pinter in Budapest this week. The aim of the working visit was to present priorities of the Slovenian presidency of the Council of the EU in the area of home affairs.
“We will endeavor to find appropriate solutions in the negotiations on the Pact on Migration and Asylum, strengthen the Schengen area and provide a high level of security in the EU and Slovenia, while our regional priority will be the Western Balkans,” Mr Hojs said.
Both countries share similar positions on migration: they want to see progress made on the external dimension and more effective return. The Ministers also touched on the present and future role of Frontex and agreed that it should be as operational as possible.
Minister Hojs told his Hungarian colleague that in the area of internal security we would strive for progress in negotiations on the Europol Regulation. Slovenia supports the strengthening of Europol, which can help particularly Member States with small administration systems analyse large databases. The Agency’s stronger role in innovation and development of state-of-the-art policing tools is also important.
The Ministers also discussed the Covid-19 situation and vaccination progress in both countries. Mr Hojs thanked Mr Pinter for the upcoming deployment of several Hungarian police officers to Slovenia, where they will help the local police control the southern border with Croatia. The Ministers concluded that the cooperation between the two ministries was very good.