Czech PM calls for a Europe-wide plan to fight irregular migration

Czech Prime Minister, Andrej Babis, has called for a comprehensive European action plan to stop irregular migration. He re-asserted the position of the Czech government to block all irregular migrants from entering Europe until a practical solution is found, and raised the idea of giving NATO overarching powers to manage Europe’s borders.

Urging Europe to send a strong, clear and unified message, he said: “I am convinced that Europe must have a plan to resolve the migration question in a comprehensive way. We have lost four years foolishly debating quotas. In short, the message being sent is that Europe is open…”

Europe’s message to refugees should be expressed as “stay home, and we’ll help you there!”, he added.

Speaking to local media outlets ahead of his official visits to Italy and Malta, PM Babis said he believed most irregular migrants were not seeking the first safe harbour from conflict but a better life in the most prosperous European country with a relatively open-door policy to outsiders.

With nearly 60 percent of its population against an open-door policy to migrants, the Czech Republic is one of the EU member states who have accepted the fewest migrants over the past three years. The country, along with Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, still opposes the EU migrant quota scheme.

The EU migrant quota scheme was set up in 2015 in response to the influx of refugees and asylum seekers entering Greece and Italy. Under the mandatory scheme, each EU member country would accept some of these 160,000 migrants. However, as of November 2017, only around 32,000 migrants had been resettled.

TMP – 30/08/2018

Photo caption: Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis