Austria will not send military personnel to Bulgaria and Serbia for the defence of their borders from migrants, stated Austrian Federal Minister of Defence Hans Peter Doskozil, cited by Die Presse.
According to him, assistance will not be provided because this is impossible at the moment due to the existing legal situation.
With respect to Serbia, the Minister stated that Serbia does not need personnel at the borders, while Serbian legislation does not provide for such an option. Belgrade, however, needs financial and technical aid, and has already requested assistance in these fields.
Regarding the 75-member Austrian military staff in Hungary, Doskozil explained that this is a humanitarian operation since Vienna does not have the right to act on an operative level in Hungary.
“At present, we do not have any plans for further operations of the armed forces,” stated the Defence Minister.
With respect to Bulgaria, the Minister pointed out that bi-lateral relations between the countries are not at a level that allows for such requests to be fulfilled.
“This is the first step. Of course, Bulgaria has concrete ideas how it needs to be supported. We, however, have not advanced that much in bi-lateral terms. We cannot implement these ideas,” added Doskozil.