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Czech Republic rejects EU proposed quotas for refugees

Xinhua, May 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka reiterated the country's attitude of rejecting the European Union (EU)-proposed compulsory quotas for the immigrants on Wednesday.

He said the Czech Republic wants to help refugees on the basis of sovereign government decisions, not on the mechanisms defined by the EU. Sobotka said his country was defending the principles of common sense.

The European Commission announced on Wednesday that by the end of May, it would submit a proposal on redistributing the refugees within the whole EU due to the current immigration wave. It will propose a program under which it will be possible to resettle 20,000 people from third countries into the EU legally over two years.

"In my view, there is no legal framework within the EU on the basis of which the quotas could be implemented," Sobotka was quoted as saying. He believes that the adoption of quotas could encourage migration pressures towards Europe.

The Czech quota may be 2.63 percent or 525 people under the European Commission program. Czech interior Minister Milan Chovanec said that the Czech Republic would certainly cope with 500 refugees, but the government wants to hear what's next, and why it is proposed that the Czech Republic should accept more refugees than, say, Sweden.

Sobotka stressed that the Czech Republic wants to provide help on a voluntary basis and in accordance with its capabilities and capacities. He said individual EU governments knew best their own situation, adding that the Czech Republic will present its position at the meeting of the European Council and defend the country's interests and "principles of common sense."

Sobotka noted that the Czech Republic was not the target country of migrants, nothing could prevent them from going elsewhere within the Schengen area. He said the system of quotas could not be implemented sustainably at all.

Former Czech president Klaus said that the only meaningful response to the wave of immigration is to send refugees back to countries where they came from. He considered the acception of non-political refugees "a complete mistake of our time."

The Czech Republic granted asylum or a similar degree of protection to 765 people in 2014, most of whom were from Ukraine, Syria and Cuba. Endit