PRAGUE (Sputnik) — Fico’s statement comes as a reaction to a Wednesday proposal by the European Commission to relocate some 40,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece to other EU member states. According to this plan, Slovakia will have to accept 785 migrants receiving 6,000 euro ($6,540) from the European Union for each relocated person.
“Libya is currently in utter discord, it practically does not exist as a state anymore…. And now we are being obliged to accept refugees from there. No one knows how many of them are heading to Europe looking not for a piece of bread and a job but to expand terrorism.”
Fico said that his government is not trying to avoid responsibility and remembers the principle of European solidarity.
“We will act as opponent [to the European Commission’s proposal] and seek for a mutually advantageous solution for all parties concerned.”
The European Union is reassessing its migration policy in the wake of an increase in the number of migrants dying while attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.
The European Commission’s quota plan was met with skepticism by a number of the EU member states, including the United Kingdom, France, Spain, the Czech Republic and Hungary.