Czech president: All migrants should be sent back

No leading politician in Central and Eastern Europe has been as outspoken about the thousands of refugees trying to reach Europe as Czech President Milos Zeman. "They should be sent back," Zeman said in reference to migrants from Middle Eastern and African countries. Zeman indicated he would also like to send the Czech army to defend the border against the foreigners. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, however, was more circumspect: "This is not the moment for such steps."

Hungary, the only country in the region that has experienced massive numbers of refugees so far, simply closed its borders. Over the weekend, a 175-kilometer-long barbed wire fence running along its border with Serbia was completed in order to keep refugees at bay.

Ironically, this happened precisely during the anniversary of the opening of Hungary's border 26 years ago to make way for thousands of East Germans trying to reach the West.

New demands can be expected during the EU summit on refugees in mid-September, so on Friday in Prague, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic will consider their border and migrant policies during an emergency summit of the Visegrad Group. It is very likely that the group – which includes the Czechs, Hungarians, Poles and Slovaks – will agree to maintain their resistance to receiving an increased number of refugees. "When it comes to turning down quotas, we agree," Sobotka said. And the Baltic States to the north also share his view. Former Estonian foreign minister Kristiina Ojuland also made headlines with her racist remarks on her Facebook profile concerning how the "white race" was endangered. In the meantime, Michael George Link – the human rights representative for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) – warned against setting up new walls along European borders. "Strengthening barriers at our borders will not make this crisis go away," he warned in a statement published in Warsaw on Tuesday.