Prague/Berlin/Darney, France, June 30 (CTK) – No talks on a deal on taking back migrants occurred between Prague and Berlin and the Czech government would not join any deal on returning migrants who previously got registered in the other country, Czech PM Andrej Babis said in a statement sent to CTK on Saturday.
Babis denied the information of the dpa news agency that the Czech Republic is one of 14 EU countries who told German Chancellor Angela Merkel they were ready to sign a deal on the prompt return of migrants from Germany to the EU state in which the migrants got registered first.
“There was no negotiations between the Czech Republic and Germany on this issue and my government does not plan to join an agreement that would mean systematic accepting of illegal migrants,” Babis said.
He dismissed the news as scaremongering.
During his visit in France, Babis told journalists he believed there was only Russian fake news but now it seems there is also German fake news.
According to dpa, Merkel (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) wrote this in a letter addressed to her coalition partners, the leaders of the Christian Social Union (CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD). In the letter she says Poland and Hungary were prepared to sign the deal, too, same as further 11 EU countries.
Warsaw, Budapest and Prague has been highly critical of Merkel’s migration policy until now.
Before the opening of the EU summit focusing no migration on Thursday, Babis ruled out any signing of a bilateral agreement with Germany on taking back migrants.
On Friday, Merkel told the EU summit that Spain and Greece were ready to take back migrants stopped on the German-Austrian border if they had asked Spanish or Greek authorities for asylum.
At present, only some 15 percent of migrants who first registered in other EU countries are returned from Germany to these countries.
Merkel clashed with CSU leader Horst Seehofer, German interior minister, over asylum policy. Seehofer wants to return the migrants right on the border, while Merkel warns about a domino effect and collapse of the Schengen system.
