He said medium-term tasks should include strengthening the Greek-Turkish border, setting up new refugee camps in safe countries, increasing EU spending on the camps, improving cooperation between humanitarian groups, boosting international police cooperation to thwart human smuggling rings and strengthening cooperation among intelligence services to reduce the risk of terrorism.

Áder said long-term tasks should include the UN restoring the aid provided for migrants to its previous level and the EU providing constant funding for the operation of refugee camps. Áder expressed hope that there would soon be peace in the “crisisaffected region” and called for an international relief fund to be set up for Syria.

Grabar-Kitarović said the solutions to the “long-term problems” that the crisis poses could be eliminating poverty in the Middle East and defeating the Islamic State militant group. She said the EU’s development policies need to be reformed in a way that they improve living standards in the migrants’ countries of origin so that people are not forced to leave their homes, adding that such a goal requires cooperation with the United States and Turkey.

She stressed the importance of setting up hotspots outside the EU and distinguishing between economic migrants and refugees. The migrant crisis is not the problem of Hungary or Croatia alone, but that of the EU and countries where it originated from, she added.

When asked about the fate of the train which was sent across the border by Croatian authorities with 1,000 migrants on board three weeks ago, Áder said he hoped that it would be sent back to Croatia as soon as possible. The president expressed hope that “this will end up being the most serious problem Hungarian- Croatian relations have to face”.

The presidents said their meeting also touched on the current state of bilateral relations including economic and cultural ties. Grabar-Kitarović mentioned the Hungarian minority in Croatia and said her country aims to guarantee their rights in accordance with “the highest international standards”.

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MTI photo: Bruzák Noémi