Slovakia Ready to Appeal EU Refugee Quota System

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that the decision on such a sensitive issue as acceptance of migrants should be based on consensus all EU states.

PRAGUE (Sputnik) — Slovakia could appeal against the quota system for the distribution of refugees within the European Union proposed by the European Commission (EC), Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Monday.

Last week, the European Parliament approved the EC-proposed mandatory quota system to relocate 120,000 refugees throughout the European Union. The interior ministers of the EU member states will meet on Tuesday to make a final decision on the matter.

“On the one hand, we respect the mechanism of decision-making by the majority of votes, but the decision on such a sensitive issue [acceptance of migrants] should be based on consensus,” Fico said, speaking on the Hungarian HN television channel.

Slovakia, which would be obliged to take in almost 2,300 refugees under the new refugee resettlement plan, as well the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, spoke out against the proposed mandatory quotas. They intend to stand against the majority of EU states on the quota issue under the Lisbon Treaty, regulating the principles the European Union is based on.

According to the European Commission, some 500,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in the European Union since the beginning of 2015.