BELGRADE, Serbia 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Tuesday that Western leaders are in a panic about illegal migration.

The remarks came in a news conference following a gathering of Slovakian, Serbian and Hungarian leaders at the Komarno summit.

“Panic-driven decisions, like suspending Schengen and reinstating border checks, undermine the EU’s greatest achievement which is free movement across borders,” said Orban “It was predictable that crime would increase and the migration pact would not solve the problem but make things worse. This pact is the problem itself,”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said he would not accept, under any conditions, that Serbia would become a hot spot for migrants.

That was in response to a question about whether there was talk about Serbia becoming what Albania is for Italy, and under what conditions he would agree to it.

Italy formally opened two migrant reception centers in Albania, where it plans to process up to 3,000 migrants and refugees each month outside its territory. The agreement was signed between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama in 2023.​​​​​​​

Since taking office in 2022, the right-wing Meloni government has been reaching out to third countries in a bid to stem sea-bound irregular migrant flows to Italy, which in 2023 rose by around 50% from the previous year.

The Italian-run centers in Schengjin and Gjiader became operational earlier this month.

"It doesn't occur to me and I wouldn't accept it under any conditions. There is no trick, no game and no story. My friends didn't ask that, they didn't ask for it, and no one else can ask me that, because it did not occur to me to talk about it at all," said Vucic.

Vucic added that the leaders offered Serbia and his country is ready to cooperate.

The Slovak government, meanwhile, said in a statement that the strengthening of EU cooperation with countries of the Western Balkans, especially Serbia, as a key partner in solving the migration crisis.

"An innovative solution could be external centers, so-called hotspots for the processing of asylum requests outside the EU, which is currently implemented in practice, for example, by Italy in cooperation with Albania," it said.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico thanked Vucic for steps to protect the entire EU from illegal migration.

"These are the countermeasures that largely enabled the EU to overcome migration flows, because what Serbia was undertaking was not in favor of Serbia, but rather it was steps that protected Slovakia, Hungary and the entire EU. The entire EU should be grateful to you for your enthusiasm and for the energy you devoted to illegal migration," said Fico.​​​​​​​