Prague, July 5 (CTK) – The Czech cabinet will discuss on Wednesday how many refugees the country is capable of accepting and the number will be lower than 1800, which was the mandatory quota proposed by the European Commission, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec told the public Czech Television (CT) on Sunday.
Chovanec said it would be several hundred people this year and several hundred next year.
He said the Interior Ministry is still checking the country’s possibilities and capacities.
After the decision is approved by the cabinet on Wednesday, it will be presented to an informal meeting of European ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday.
The capacities of the Czech asylum facilities are being increased, Chovanec said.
He said the facility in Vysni Lhoty, north Moravia, might be reopened. This facility had 580 beds and refugees lived in it from the mid-1990s to 2009, he added.
The top representatives of EU member countries rejected the mandatory refugee quotas proposed by the EC and they agreed to redistribute 40,000 refugees from Italy and Greece in two years on a voluntary basis, plus 20,000 refugees from outside Europe who have the right to international protection.
The refugees in Italy and Greece have applied for asylum and the countries that will accept them will decide whether the asylum will be granted to them or not.
Chovanec said the refugees would be moved to Czech detention facilities and the asylum proceedings would be dealt with.
The people from refugee camps outside the EU would be accepted and integrated into Czech society, he said.
Chovanec said only several individuals and two families applied for asylum in the Czech Republic this year.
“We are not a target country,” he said.
He said the migrants mostly headed for Germany and Sweden because of the generous welfare systems and the communities of their compatriots.
Chovanec said 60 percent of the refugees had no right to the asylum.
“It can be clearly seen that Europe is facing economic migration. We say that regulation is needed,” he said.
The Czech welfare system is set in such a way that it does not attract foreigners, Chovanec said.
CT reported that the Czech police arrested 330 illegal migrants from January to June.
