Strasbourg/Brussels, June 13 (CTK) – The legal cases the European Commission has opened against the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland is not a good solution, Czech European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Vera Jourova told journalists on Tuesday.
She herself did not attend the EC meeting on the topic this afternoon.
“I needed to return to Brussels and because the meeting started later, I missed this part of the agenda,” Jourova said.
She said at the talks with other European commissioners she repeatedly stressed that the redistribution of asylum seekers was not a good solution.
This afternoon, EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos announced the EC’s decision to take the legal steps against the three Central European countries which could end with a fine from the European court.
In doing so, he fulfilled the threat that the EC would use its right unless the countries change their rejection of the programme approved in 2015.
Within it, other countries were to redistribute up to 160,000 exactly defined asylum seekers with a very likely claim to international protection from Italy and Greece within two years.
Avramopoulos called on the countries again to accept the respective numbers of refugees.
He said if Prague, Budapest and Warsaw changed their attitude, the EC’s stance could be changed as well.
Jourova told CTK that according to her information the EC had not much discussed the topic.
“It was quite obvious that the present officials were for it and had no problem with it,” Jourova said.
The EC has decided to take the steps against the three countries because they have not offered to accept any new refugees within the redistribution programme for over a year.
Slovakia and Austria have done so.
Jourova said she presumed the Czech side would now answer the EC letter, presenting its arguments and explaining its attitude.
