Prague, July 7 (CTK) – The Czech Republic is ready to help Italy by introducing the concept of detentions which functions in it and along with the sending of its police, it can offer the experts who have some experience with the concept, Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD) told journalists on Friday.
In a letter sent to his Italian counterpart Marco Minniti earlier, Chovanec said the Czech Republic could send its police to Italy and that he would propose to the government that it set aside almost 21 million crowns to deal with the influx of refugees from Libya.
However, Chovanec still rejects the redistribution of refugees according to quotas.
“Europe must be interested in knowing who roams it. As I have repeatedly stressed, the persons must be thoroughly checked,” Chovanec said.
“The freedom of the persons not eligible for international protection should be restricted, they should be placed in detention facilities and efficiently returned to the countries of origin,” Chovanec said.
He said most of the arrivals were economic migrants who were not eligible for international protection, while their structure was changing.
“According to statistics, people from Nigeria, Guinea and Bangladesh are coming here,” Chovanec said.
In the letter published by the Interior Ministry on Thursday, Chovanec said he would propose to the government that it set aside up to 800,000 euros in support of EU activities in Libya with which to reduce the number of the refugees heading from it to the EU.
He also told Minniti that he was ready to send a “numerous police contingent” to help return the refugees from Italy if Minniti asked for it.
On Sunday, Minniti called on European countries to open their ports to the ships rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean, sharing the burden of Italy which is now the main entry gate for migrants to Europe.
On Tuesday, the European Commission introduced a number of measures with which to relieve Italy’s burden in the migrant crisis.
They include the support for Libyan authorities through projects worth 46 million euros and a higher financing of the steps regulating migration on the Italian side for 35 million euros.
