Prague, March 16 (CTK) – The Czech government should not support the EU-Turkey agreement until Turkey starts to more consistently fulfil its commitments in relation to illegal migration, the Senate said yesterday, on the eve of the EU summit to be held in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.
The main goal of the summit is to reach agreement on further cooperation with Turkey in managing the migrant crisis.
“The new agreement should provide for the quick returning of all migrants from Greek islands to Turkey,” Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) told the senators.
He said this could form a basis of a long-term sustainable solution because it would frustrate the activities of people smugglers and the migrants’ motivation to get to Europe across the sea.
Turning to Turkey’s effort to have the visa duty with the EU abolished quickly, Sobotka said Turkey will have to fulfil all conditions of visa liberalisation.
He said further possible financial assistance to Turkey in managing the migrant crisis should be conditioned on control of the use of the money.
At the same time he pointed to that it is not possible to rely in the long term on that someone else will tackle the migrant-related problems for Europe.
“We must not forget about building our own capacities,” Sobotka said.
The Senate said the conditions of granting asylum should be tightened so that it is not received by those who could be a security risk.
“Even though the migrant crisis has a serious humanitarian dimension, the primary duty of the government of every EU member country as well as Union bodies is to see to the fundamental security of their own citizens,” the Senate agreed.
It noted that “the statements by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and some other supreme Eruopean politicians have markedly contributed to the escalation of the migrant crisis.”
The Senate called on representatives of all EU countries to send out “a clear and comprehensible signal” to the migrants who do not qualify for being granted asylum that “the open-door policy has reached its limits.”
Sobotka was more cautious in his criticism of Merkel’s statements.
Nevertheless, the senators said Merkel invited migrants to her country last year, which inflated the migrant wave.
Senate chairman Milan Stech (CSSD) pointed to that Merkel has dismissed the closure of the Greek-Macedonian border to migrants, which the Czech Republic was pushing for in order to protect the Schengen Area.
“I believe that we are fully entitled to pointing out that we do not like such conduct of Chancellor Merkel,” Stech said
