Prague, Jan 21 (CTK) – Germany’s decision to extend indefinitely border checks in connection with the migrant crisis will not newly affect the Czech Republic because they have been applied for several months now, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka told CTK yesterday.
He said he considers the measure logical because the wave of migrants has only partially diminished during the winter.
Sobotka said the Czech Republic reacted to the checks several months ago “with intensifying the monitoring of the situation along the southern border with Austria and Germany.”
He said the government is ready to react with reinforcing the control if need be.
Sobotka said, however, he hopes that this will not be needed and that the necessary measures will be taken in Greece and Turkey to protect the Schengen outer border.
“Along the Czech-German border, these checks were very rare. The Germans know very well that almost no migrants cross Czech territory,” Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (CSSD) told CTK.
He said the Czech police detained three migrants over the past three days and that there are 95 people in detention facilities now.
Chovanec said unless the measures along the German-Austrian green border are draconic, he does not expect the situation to change from the point of view of the Czech Republic.
“If a migrant wave came, and I say again that I do not expect it, we are ready and we will reinforce the Czech-Austrian border with police and soldiers within five hours which we have trained,” Chovanec said.
ms/dr/rtj
