Czech Republic Vows to Meet EU Requirements on Refugees

Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec says Friday that Slovenia was not informed in advance of Hungary’s move and that the fence was “not necessary”.

The image is of Alyan Kurdi, a 3 year old Syrian boy, who drowned along with his brother and mother while attempting to escape death and poverty by reaching European countries.

A quick or easy fix will be impossible to find and the meeting is likely to be fiery but leaders know they have to stumble towards some sort of plan or risk the unravelling of the European Union itself.

There is no age limit for the asylum-seekers at the hostels, although unaccompanied minors aren’t permitted.

Robert Fico says Slovakia is not ready to accept the plan to share the burden of migrants across the EU.

Refugees, mostly women and children, have expressed frustration at the way the European country has handled the crisis.

Serbia has given Croatia an ultimatum to reopen its border for all cargo transport by midnight, or face unspecified countermeasures.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald spoke to Newstalk Breakfast earlier about the meeting yesterday.

Macedonian police officers control a crowd of migrants and refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija.

He said he would consult the coalition partners on the steps to be taken on Wednesday.

The UNHCR said in a statement that 477,906 people have arrived in Europe by sea this year.

“In the long-term something will have to give”, said Amelia Constant, program director of migration at IZA, an independent research center based in Bonn, Germany. But Slovenia refused to let the people pass, leaving Croatia, one of the EU’s poorest nations, responsible for tens of thousands of people.

There were hopes the emergency summit of interior ministers would bring about consensus between European Union members. The two countries have slammed each other with border closures and traffic blockades.

The mandatory quotas for the redistribution of refugees are no solution to the migration crisis and will not work, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, ČSSD) said today.

The plan, driven by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Francois Hollande, the French president, was pushed through after they split Poland from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary, the rest of the Visegrad bloc of central and eastern European states that had been united in opposition to the plan.

Afterwards, its opponents lashed out, with Czech President Milos Zeman saying “only the future will show what a mistake this was”. “Quotas and contingents are two different things,” he said, AFP reports.

Asylum-seekers arriving in Finland have been met by protesters firing fireworks and sounding loud horns, and at least one person dressed in a Ku Klux Klan-like white robe and pointed hat.

“Migrants should have the right to choose where in Europe they want to live”, said Jaroslav Plesl, editor in chief of Mlada Fronta Dnes, a leading Czech newspaper. No incidents were reported.

The pair said there needed to be more aid to countries neighbouring Syria to help ease the flow of migrants.