Prague, Sept 16 (CTK) – The mandate for Interior Minister Milan Chovanec has not changed, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (both Social Democrats, CSSD) said yesterday, adding that the Czech Republic still wanted to discuss the migration crisis without the mandatory redistribution quotas.
The quotas were proposed by the European Commission, but the Czech Republic is one of the few EU members to disagree with them.
“The government mandate for Chovanec is still valid as this is no new negotiation, only a suspended negotiation that has not arrived at a conclusion,” Sobotka said.
At their meeting on the redistribution of asylum seekers among EU members earlier this week, EU interior ministers did not agree on it, although the plan to redistribute 120,000 persons was supported by a large majority of EU members.
Sobotka repeated that any permanent redistribution mechanism was unacceptable for the Czech Republic.
He said he did not want to commit any future governments to anything that might pose a problem from the spheres of economic or social development.
Sobotka said Prague would try to influence the debate inside the EU and to find a sensible conclusion that could be supported.
The ministers will meet in Brussels next Tuesday.
