Why Slovakia has become the focal point for opposition against EU refugee quotas

Slovakia’s Prime Minister, Robert Fico, defended his opposition to refugee quotas in a statement delivered to the European Parliament on 5 October 2015. Katarina Lezova writes on the domestic debate over the refugee crisis within Slovakia. She notes that while the country’s criticism of the quota system has generated controversy at the EU level; within Slovakia itself there is relative unity among political actors, with most opposing the principle of quotas and arguing that it stops short of tackling the real migration problem being faced by Europe.

On the 24 November 2015 Slovakia confirmed that it would launch legal action by the 18 December 2015 in the European Court of Justice against the EU quota plan to distribute 160,000 refugees and migrants across the EU.

• Primary Source

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Deutsche Welle, 09.01.16: Eastern Europe bristles after Cologne http://dw.com/p/1HanC

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