WORLD
Prague should sue EC if it raised migrant quotas - Zeman
Prague, October 8, AZERTAC
Czech President Milos Zeman said Prague should sue the European Commission if it raised migrant quotas. He made the statement at a meeting of the National Security Council, according to ceskenoviny.cz. Mr Zeman welcomed the Czech Chamber of Deputies´ resolution rejecting the idea of an automatic increase in the immigrant quotas.
"The president said at the meeting that if the European Commission tried to push through the mechanism by force, the Czech Republic should follow the example of Slovakia and file a lawsuit against the EC with the European Court of Justice," Presidential spokesman Jiri Ovcacek Ovcacek said.
In late September, Zeman praised what he called the courage and bravery of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-Social Democrats) in connection with Bratislava´s plan to file a legal action against the recent approval of one-off refugee relocation quotas by an EU majority, which outvoted the opposing Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.
The Czech Chamber of Deputies rejected the idea of a permanent refugee relocation mechanism earlier this month.
Simultaneously, it supported the taking of measures to improve the protection of the EU´s outer border, the readmission of migrants without the right to asylum, and crackdowns on people smugglers.
The Chamber, nevertheless, rejected the proposal by a part of the opposition that Prague should turn to the European Court of Justice over the already approved one-off quotas.