Prague, July 13 (CTK) – The Interior Ministry expects 5,000 to 7,000 illegal immigrants to come to the Czech Republic next year and some 3,500 are expected this year, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (senior government Social Democrats, CSSD) told reporters during the government meeting yesterday.
The Interior Ministry will receive an additional sum of more than 230 million crowns to solve the impact of the refugee crisis this year, the government decided yesterday, according to CTK sources.
The cabinet will discuss one billion crowns that the ministry demands for 2016 during the debate on the state budget in August.
The government yesterday also approved the opening of detention facilities for refugees in Vysni Lhoty, north Moravia, and Balkov, west Bohemia. It will also extend the capacity of the facility for foreigners in Bela pod Bezdezem, north Bohemia, by some 550 beds, Chovanec said.
New beds in refugee centres are urgently needed within several weeks, he added.
Chovanec originally asked the government for 250 million crowns for this year and 1.1 billion for next year.
The coalition cabinet of the CSSD, ANO and the Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) agreed on a compromise of 234 million crowns and will take the other financial requirements into consideration.
Chovanec said his ministry needs more money to increase the number of its employees and policemen by about 800 and to provide additional 900 beds and 250 flats for the integration of legal immigrants.
At present, the Interior Ministry has four asylum facilities with the capacity of some 700 beds in total.
Two reception centres for asylum seekers are in Prague-Ruzyne and in Zastavka near Brno, south Moravia, while two residential centres are situated in Kostelec nad Orlici, east Bohemia, and Havirov, north Moravia.
In addition, the ministry has a facility for detention of the foreigners waiting for expulsion in Bela pod Bezdezem. Another two facilities are to be opened soon.
The government decided last week that the Czech Republic would accept 1,500 refugees by 2017, while the first 400 will arrive in the country this year.
Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) said at a press conference that he considered the migration crisis the biggest problem in Europe.
The EU proved a similar inability to solve it like in the case of Greece’s financial problems, Babis said. Europe will probably have to close the Schengen area and take systemic measures, he added.
($1=24.238 crowns)
