Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Europe

Slovak PM looks to curb migration by deploying forces to Hungarian border

Robert Fico has taken a hardline stance against illegal immigration during his fourth stint as Slovakia's head of government

Associated Press
Published
close
Fox News Flash top headlines for October 30 Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for October 30

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

The new Slovak government announced a big deployment of police and armed forces Monday along the border with Hungary to prevent growing numbers of migrants entering the country.

Prime Minister Robert Fico did not immediately give details of the deployment but said that illegal migration must be controlled or else people linked to "terrorist" groups could enter the country.

Fico, who spoke after meeting Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Esto, said the deployment would start later Monday and that he would personally inspect the situation at the border.

LEFTIST UKRAINE SKEPTIC ROBERT FICO BACK IN AS SLOVAK PRIME MINISTER

His new government was sworn in last Wednesday after his leftist Smer, or Direction, party won the Sept. 30 parliamentary election, opening the way for the populist leader to become prime minister for the fourth time.

The new government has not yet released its policy program, but Fico has suggested it will include a tough stance against migration.

Robert Fico

Current Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is seen in Bratislava, Slovakia, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

Esto said that the situation in the world has been serious recently due to the war between Israel and the militant group Hamas, which attacked the country on Oct 7, and that he expected a new wave of migration.

The minister said the government hoped to control the entire 407-mile frontier with Hungary.

ORBÁN COMPARES HUNGARY'S EU MEMBERSHIP TO SOVIET OCCUPATION IN FIERY SPEECH

The previous Slovak government resumed random checks at the border with Hungary on Oct. 5, a day after the country’s neighbors, including Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, reintroduced controls at their borders with Slovakia to curb migration. Then-Slovak Prime Minister Ludovit Odor criticized the neighbors’ border controls at the time, saying it would be preferrable to find a Europe-wide solution to the problem of migrants.

All four countries belong to the European Union’s visa-fee Schengen zone.

The migrants mostly use Slovakia as a transit country on the way to western Europe.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

According to the Interior Ministry, Slovakia registered almost 40,000 migrants from the beginning of the year until Oct. 1 — 11 times more than a year ago.