From the beginning of next year Austrian, Bulgarian, Croatian and Hungarian drivers will be fined by local policemen if they commit traffic violation in each other’s countries. An agreement was signed on this topic by the four countries’ ministers and deputy ministers of interior on Thursday, in Mátraháza during the Salzburg Forum meeting.
After the signing ceremony, Minister Pintér stated at the press conference: the European Union wants to ensure that by 2050 no deaths will occur in road accidents. One step towards this direction is the agreement enabling a stronger cooperation in road safety matters with an emphasis on taking over and handling public administration and violation fees in each other’s countries. The four-party agreement enables violation fees over 50 euros to be recovered in all signatory countries. This would mean that a Hungarian driver cannot road traffic offences in Austria, neither can an Austrian driver do the same in Hungary without consequences.
Johanna Mikl-Leitner, the Austrian federal Minister of Interior emphasized that the Salzburg Forum, established at the turn of the century following an Austrian initiative, has become one of the most important forums for public safety cooperation in Europe. Minister Kirigin also agreed that the Salzburg Forum is a very important cooperation, especially because exchanging information is one of the biggest challenges for the European Union.
Serbian Prime Minister and Miniter of Interior Ivica Dacic talked about the fact that countries can only take action against crime, corruption, illegal migration and human trafficking by cooperating with each other. The Hungarian and Serbian ministers also plan to hold a bilateral meeting on human trafficking.
Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Veselin Vuchkov mentioned as an example that in his country due to the aligned actions in the past three years the number of the victims of road accidents have decreased significantly. At the same time he expressed his hope that the signed agreement will improve road safety even more in the EU.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström also participated at the event and stated that the forum is not a competition for joint European cooperation but rather a great example that integration can be deepend through regional initiatives as well.
On the margin of the meeting Hungarian Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér and Croatian Deputy Minister of Interior Nebojsa Kirigin signed an agreement on the operation of the Danube Law Enforcement Coordination Center. According to this agreement a law enforcement coordination center will be established in Mochács, in order to strengthen the security of water traffic and take actions against crime. Minister Pintér said that it will be a joint Croatian-Hungarian checkpoint with shared crew and expressed his hope that Serbia will join the operation as well.
As a continuation of Salzburg Forum on Friday the eighth meeting of the Ministerial Committee of Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe will take place, under Serbian Presidency. The committee includes Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. The main issues will be illegal migration and human trafficking. Hungary, as the newest member of the Convention will address the participants.
The Salzburg Forum includes the Ministers of Interior of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Its aim is to strengthen regional cooperation in the field of internal security and to improve the representation of EU interests.
The participants discussed the security of the Schengen region, the financing of the interior affairs related issues of the 2014-2020 EU budget, and the importance of combating organized crime with a special emphasis on creating legal regulation in order to confiscate unlawfully acquired property.
(Ministry of Interior)
