The Interior Minister of the Czech Republic, Milan Chovanec, stated in an interview with Czech newspaper "Pravo" that he did not support the refugee quota set out by the European Union. Chovanec said if the EU threatened the country with financial penalties, the Czech Republic would still not accept further refugees.
"We have accepted 12 refugees out of approximately 1,600," Chovanec said, hinting that many of the asylum seekers assigned to the Czech Republic could pose a security risk, he added, "The ongoing checks of the rest revealed that none of them should be accepted."
The Czech minister stressed that people without due control should not be allowed inside the country and that he would promote this stance among other members of the republic's government.
The European Commission had suggested to establish a quota system in 2015, when the heightened influx of refugees suspended the Dublin agreement as a matter of fact. Under the quota system, each member state is allotted a certain number of refugees that it should take in.
However, several states expressed their discontent with the system and refused to take in refugees. Staunch opponents to the quota system include Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary.
Slovakia and Hungary reacted to the one-time assignment of 120,000 refugees in 2015 by filing a complaint at the European Court of Justice.
