Prague, July 8 (CTK) – The Czech Republic has reservations about security at the southern border of the Schengen Area in Greece and Italy, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) told journalists in the Chamber of Deputies Wednesday.
The Czech Republic will want the EU to start a mechanism of returning the refugees to the countries from which they have come, Sobotka said.
Within a European solidarity effort, the Czech Republic will accept hundreds of refugees this and next years, he added.
“Schengen’s southern border is not well guarded, it is not well guarded in Greece and Italy,” Sobotka said.
“We also lay emphasis on the implementation of return policy because the return policy from Greece and Italy is not working,” Sobotka said.
It is not clear what will happen with the refugees who will be denied asylum in the EU and in which way they will be returned to the countries of origin, he added.
Sobotka said the government would deal with the number of the refugees the Czech Republic would accept in the next two years.
“This is the number of the people to whom we will offer to stay and wait for the settlement of their asylum applications. Or we will offer the alternative for them to stay here until the war conflict in the Middle East ends,” Sobotka said.
“In such a case, this will be several hundred this year and several hundred next year,” he added.
Sobotka stressed that this would be a one-off help and the number of Czech refugees would be correspondent with Czech economic capabilities as well as capacities of the asylum centers.
The number of the beds in them will have to be increased, he added.
“I presume that in the days to come, the Interior Ministry will submit its proposals and budget needs at a government meeting,” Sobotka said.
Sobotka said he presumed a part of the refugees would not be granted asylum and they would be sent back to the countries from which they came.
The Czech Republic has rejected the refugee quotas proposed by the EU.
pv/dr
