Prague, June 12 (CTK) – The European Commission (EC) will weaken Czechs’ trust in the European Union (EU) if it decides to punish the member countries that reject the migrant quotas, Interior Minister Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD) told CTK on Monday.
The practice has shown that the quotas for the redistribution of migrants across the EU do not work, he added.
The EC will start proceedings against the Czech Republic and other countries for violating the EU legislation by rejecting the refugee quotas on Tuesday, Reuters reported and two well-informed some CTK sources said on Monday.
“The quotas do not work, migrants do not stay in the countries that accept them. The EU is hiding its head in the sand and refuses to accept reality. I still believe that the EU will not selectively punish those who point to the quotas’ nonsensical character. This would be a road to hell that would fatally undermine people’s trust in the EU in the whole Czech Republic,” Chovanec wrote to CTK.
He pointed out that the Czech Republic would like to participate in the solution to the migrant crisis in another way, not by accepting migrants, but for instance, by helping protect the outer border or supporting the countries from which the refugees are coming.
“If the EC decides to punish the countries that are pushing for a constructive solution to the migrant crisis and that rank among the most active in sending police officers and experts to crisis areas, but that reject the non-functioning and nonsensical quotas, this will send a wrong signal to the Czech public,” he wrote.
The EC has not officially decided on its further step yet, it is to do so at its Tuesday meeting.
If the EC agrees to launch such proceedings, it will first send an official note to the respective member countries as the first step in the multi-stage proceedings. This may end up in court that may impose a fine on the member states.
EC President Jean-Claude Juncker supports proceedings for not observing the quotas.
Organization for Aid to Refugees (OPU) director Martin Rozumek has welcomed that EC proceedings against the Czech Republic be launched.
“Commitments must be met and the fact that we voted against it changes nothing on the democratically approved measure based on quotas. Only the big heads from the V4 (Visegrad Four countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) afterwards relied on that commitments can be violated without punishment,” Rozumek said in a press release.
“If we do not like this, let us submit our own, better proposal for aid to the South European countries to cope with the arrivals of refugees and migrants instead of pre-election outcries for domestic audience,” Rozumek said.
The situation in Italy where most migrants heading for European get across the sea is worse now than in the previous years, he added.
