MPs and Senators from V4 Countries Agree on Approach to Illegal Migration

Prague, April 29 (TASR-correspondent) - Slovakia will contribute towards addressing the problem of illegal migration in terms of personnel, finances and technology, said parliamentary defence and security committee chair Tibor Gaspar following the end of a first round of talks between V4 (Visegrad Four - Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) parliamentary security and defence committees held in Prague on Monday. According to Gaspar, the V4 countries have the same view on the issue of illegal migration. "We had the opportunity to exchange views on illegal migration, which are basically the same for us, and we're also calling for concrete solutions ... On behalf of the Slovak Republic, I want to declare that we'll contribute towards resolving this migration problem in terms of personnel, finance and technologies," said Gaspar, stressing the need to guard the Schengen border strictly. According to Czech parliamentary security committee chair Pavel Zacek, who hosted the first round of the talks, the meeting of the V4 committees disproved the opinion that the countries were unable to agree. "I'd like to document that we have agreed on an approach and kind of vision for the future regarding illegal migration. The proof is the declaration that has been signed by all the representatives of the committees," he said. In the declaration, for example, the committee members recognised the need for further reform of the EU's migration and asylum policy after the EP elections and agreed that the goal should be to strengthen the prevention of illegal migration and to enable the Schengen zone to return to a proper mode of functioning. ko/df