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Slovak gov't discusses plan to challenge EU decision over refugee quotas

Xinhua, September 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Slovak Government at its session on Wednesday discussed its plan to challenge the decision by the European Union to redistribute 120,000 refugees among EU-member countries at the EU Court in Luxembourg.

According to Prime Minister Robert Fico, the Government session didn't approve the lawsuit's contents, only made the decision to leave the task to professionals.

"We didn't talk about the nature of the lawsuit, that's a matter for professionals," stressed Fico.

Fico has challenged the way in which this was decided - by a majority vote of EU interior ministers and not by EU prime ministers, among whom consensus would have been required. He asserted that this is not a technical issue but a problem that is shaking the whole of Europe.

According to the decision, Slovakia should accept 802 refugees - 190 from Italy and 612 from Greece. In the case of need, another 54,000 migrants will be redistributed.

The Slovak Government has three months to file the lawsuit after the decision was published in the EU's journal, which took place on September 24. Based on Article 263, EU members have the right to challenge a legal act of the EU if there's a suspicion that their rights have been violated. Endit