Zdice, Central Bohemia, Sept 8 (CTK) – NATO does not have anything in common with the solution to the current refugee crisis as this is a problem Europe must deal with, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka told journalists Tuesday.
NATO’s role is different, Sobotka said.
Finance Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) said previously NATO should help solve the problem.
NATO itself has rejected the demand.
“I do not think that NATO has anything in common with the migration crisis. Europe must deal with it,” Sobotka said.
“This is a question of the functioning of the external Schengen border. This is the affair especially of the countries situated on the external Schengen border,” he added.
“We also need a stronger European foreign and security policy that will focus on what is in Europe’s immediate neighbourhood,” Sobotka said.
NATO’s role is different, he added.
“This is a collective defence institution,” Sobotka said.
“The security of all member countries should be guaranteed within the framework of our solidarity,” said Sobotka, who is scheduled to meet Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday.
Sobotka said they would have enough time to discuss important issues.
He said the security situation in the world had changed and security strategies had been modified.
“I would like to know his view of what is going on in eastern Europe, what is going in Ukraine,” Sobotka said.
“I also want to know his view of the security situation in the Middle East and North Africa. The worsening of the security situation in Syria and Libya had caused the big problem we are tackling within the migration wave now,” he added.
On Thursday, President Milos Zeman will receive Stoltenberg.
