Slovakia reintroduces checks on the border with Hungary to curb migration

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Slovakia said Wednesday it will resume checks at the border with Hungary to reduce growing numbers of migrants entering the country.

The measure, which will become effective on Thursday, came the day that the country’s neighbours, including Austria, the Czech Republic and Poland, reintroduced controls at their borders with Slovakia for at least 10 days to curb migration.

Slovak Prime Minister Ludovit Odor criticized the neighbors’ border controls, saying it’s necessary 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. The border controls will take place along the 655-kilometer (407-mile) frontier with Hungary.

According to the Interior Minister, Slovakia registered 39.688 migrants from the beginning of the year until Oct 1 — 11 times more than a year ago.

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Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration