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Slovak lawsuit over mandatory refugee quotas should clarify several issues: PM

Xinhua, September 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

The planned lawsuit against the European Commission concerning mandatory refugee quotas won't damage Slovakia's reputation abroad, on the contrary, it's a good step as it will help to clarify several issues, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Sunday.

"For example, whether interior ministers of the EU had the right to decide on such an important question of sovereignty," said Fico.

According to Fico, the Slovak government, by filing a lawsuit at the EU General Court in Luxembourg, is only using available means, so nobody should condemn the move.

"It's a legitimate step that we are entitled to. We aren't launching a military attack. Lawsuits are often filed at the European Court," he stressed.

Fico added that Slovakia will file the lawsuit within two months of the announcement of the EU interior ministers' decision.

"As a sovereign country we reject the dictate of a majority," said Fico.

The governments of EU member countries approved a proposal to relocate 120,000 migrants by a majority vote on Tuesday amid fierce oppositions from several countries in central and eastern Europe.

The European Commission has proposed resettling the 120,000 refugees on top of the 40,000 refugees that member states have already agreed to relocate from EU countries exposed to massive migratory flows.

Home affairs ministers of EU member states gathered in Brussels Tuesday for the second time in as many weeks to resolve the dispute over the relocation plan. As EU member states were wildly divided over the issue, the decision was at last pushed through by a vote on Tuesday.

The decision established a temporary and exceptional relocation mechanism over two years from the frontline member states Italy and Greece to other member states. Endit