“The Ministers of the Interior of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, and Slovenia have cooperated within the Salzburg groups since the adoption of the Salzburg Declaration in 2001. Ministers of Bulgaria and Romania joined the group in 2005 as candidate countries of the European Union. This cooperation became a basis for close partnership of participating countries in activities relating to internal security and regional stability. The initial objective of the Salzburg Group was, through mutual cooperation and exchanges of experience, to facilitate the inclusion of candidate countries and new EU Member States into a single European area of freedom, security and justice, with priorities being police cooperation, border checks, illegal migration, and asylum. Activities of the Salzburg Group focus nowadays mainly on specific cooperation in the area of common regional issues in the context of membership of the Salzburg Group states in the European Union. The Salzburg Group is, according to the statement of the Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs, Mr. Frattini, at the meeting of the Ministers of the Interior of the Salzburg Group states held in Gratz, Austria, in July 2005, an important forum for the exchange of opinions, ideas and experiences concerning the creation of the area of freedom, security and justice, i.e. tasks arising from the Hague Programme.
A special emphasis is, in this context, placed on regional cooperation regarding asylum and migration, in particular on enhancing information exchanges and cooperation between public institutions concerned, the development of common strategies for combating illegal migration, trafficking in human beings and the exploitation of women and children, as well as on the harmonisation of relevant legal provisions of the European Union in relation to third countries. With regard to the domain of asylum, cooperation aims at harmonising standards for the admission of asylum seekers and procedural guarantees corresponding with the good practice of asylum proceedings in EU Member States. An Expert Working Group for information on countries of origin of asylum seekers operates within the Salzburg Group.”〔2005 Status Report on Migration in the Czech Republic by the MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC, Page 49. http://www.mvcr.cz/dokument/2006/migrace05en.pdf〕