Prague, July 27 (CTK) – It is unwise of the EC to force migrant quotas upon the Central European countries, but the stubborn rejection of the quotas by Czech politicians, which might cost Prague hundreds of millions of crowns, is quite incomprehensible, Petr Honzejk writes in Hospodarske noviny (HN) today.
He reacts to what he calls an ultimatum faced by the Czech Republic. Either it will start accepting refugees within a month or European court proceedings will be launched against it, probably resulting in a high fine of up to hundreds of millions of crowns, he writes.
Of course, mistakes have been made by both sides, but the question is whether the dispute is worth it for Prague, Honzejk writes.
The Czech Republic has accepted 12 refugees so far. If it offered the acceptance of another handful of migrants now, the uproar would subside and the threat of court proceedings and a fine would dissipate, Honzejk writes.
The EU’s migrant quotas programme will end in September, so Prague definitely would not be threatened with meeting the quota of 2,600 migrants to accept, Honzejk writes.
By offering to accept a handful of them, the Czechs would show respect for the “migrant Euromechanism” without suffering any harm themselves, he writes.
The quotas serve to relocate refugees from war-stricken countries such as Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea, not economic migrants, which has been widely believed by Czechs. The Czech Republic can check the selected refugees on its own, which makes the risk of their acceptance lower than low, Honzejk writes.
However, the Czech government has preferred banging its head against a brick wall, he continues.
“No one else will be accepted!” Interior Minister Milan Chovanec (Social Democrats, CSSD) is shouting with a Winchester gun on his sitting room wall behind him, Honzejk writes, ironically hinting at a photo Chovanec recently released to promote a bill that empowers Czech arms owners to intervene if needed to ensure the country’s security.
“Not a single refugee more, not even temporarily,” government ANO movement leader Andrej Babis says, eyeing the position of the Czech anti-refugee guerilla leader.
Chovanec and Babis’s approach has been backed by the rest of the Czech scene, with a few exceptions. The only reason behind the anti-quota rebellion is the nearing October 20-21 general election, Honzejk writes.
By coincidence of various factors, one of which is called [President] Milos Zeman, the Czechs suffer from anti-immigration hysteria with which politicians must comply now, Honzejk writes.
All this amounts to nothing but pre-election populism, he writes, comparing the Czech approach to that of Slovakia.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-Social Democrats) is by no means a fan of migration, but no elections are ahead in Slovakia, which is why he has taken a rational approach to the quotas. He has offered some more places for resettling refugees from Greece and Italy, and he has been left in peace, Honzejk writes.
Unlike Slovakia, the Czechs would rather pay a huge fine, he writes.
Prague’s efforts to rationalise its anti-refugee stance has been rather unsuccessful. For example, Prague says the quotas “do not work,” since EU countries have accepted only 24,000 refugees of the planned 120,000, Honzejk writes.
Really, this is no miraculous success. On the other hand, however, the system has started to work intensively recently, with Latvia fully meeting the quota set for it and Spain meeting it at 60 percent, Honzejk writes.
In total, the quotas will be met at about one third across the EU, which is not so horrible a fiasco, Honzejk writes.
The EC acted unwisely when it decided to forcibly promote an issue which tends to foment panic in Central Europe. In doing so, Brussels has played into the hands of the local opponents of European integration, Honzejk writes.
However, the mind boggles at the Czech political stubbornness that will cost Prague millions of crowns, a sum that could otherwise be effectively spent on some useful purposes,” Honzejk concludes.
($1=22.371 crowns)
