The original idea of a regional migration management regime needs to be tempered. First of all, the Polish case shows how strong the national network is. If indeed EU or UNHCR have limited capacities to take the initiative in policy formulation (as it was stated already in the Hungarian case in the paper, and it is shown now to be true in Poland as well), we may rather expect national initiatives. Also the governments maintain contacts but set their accession policies differently (especially that the race is for the money and recognition as the best border guard)—e.g. Border Guards Conferences work well within certain topics, but little information is really exchanged. EU accession is a more complex and political issue than the earlier one of setting up technical infrastructure to protect the national borders (then it was a common perception of the threat to security which mattered)—but this explains more broadly why after the breakup of the Soviet Union, there’s less cooperation now.
At the moment, it looks more like Poland, the activist country, is trying to get Hungary on board to fulfil its own national interest vis-à-vis Ukraine, but Hungary places Ukraine differently on the ladder of its natonal security. Hungarian government uses different frames to speak of Ukraine (the national minority in need of economic support—this can be achieved much easier through legislation targeting the Hungarians for national visas, whereas in Poland the Polish Charter is stalled, and anyway the main constituency is the Poles living in Poland who might lose economic opportunities). I wouldn’t expect some major involvement of Hungarian NGOs in the foreign policy toward the former USSR, since in Poland such activity gains from strong interest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the relations with the East and a community of experts interested in Ostpolitik. See the conference on the opportunities for participation of NGOs in the Polish foreign policy. Hungary balances its migration policy against its foreign policy objectives. The two countries can be thought of as small countries whose foreign policies move from ensuring security toward settling longer-term issues.