Prague, Aug 28 (CTK) – President Milos Zeman discussed migration and redistribution quotas for refugees with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her Thursday visit to Prague in a quiet and professional way, Zeman told Czech Radio on Sunday.
Zeman advocated the view that the closure of the EU borders was the best solution to the refugee wave.
“Unlike some other politicians who avoided the topic of migration, cautiously tiptoeing around it, I said in my first sentence that if you invite someone to your house, you do not send him to have the lunch to your neighbour,” Zeman said.
“It was an allusion to Germany at first having invited the migrants and then trying to place them outside Germany by means of the redistribution quotas,” Zeman said.
He said he and Merkel then discussed how to close the EU border, what to do in Greece and in Italy and how to make the border in Macedonia and Bulgaria tight.
Zeman said it would be boring if he had agreed with Merkel on all affairs.
Merkel accepted this, he added.
“The quotas were absolute nonsense. Everyone can make a mistake, but the mistake should be admitted,” Zeman said.
Zeman supported the position of Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD) that the Czech Republic would not accept any refugees from Turkey till the end of the year, Chovanec expressed earlier this year.
Zeman said he was for the establishment of a European military.
However, the solution is not sufficient, he added.
“The danger of Islamic State must be fought now and immediately and the preparation of the army may take some time,” he added.
Just like in Afghanistan, NATO should form an active coalition for the fight against Islamic State, he added.
