Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Saturday dismissed the idea of one of the members of the European Parliament that the country could accommodate 50 Syrian orphans, noting that the republic should first of all take care of its own orphans but would continue to allocate aid directly to countries of migrants' origin.
PRAGUE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 15th September, 2018) Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis on Saturday dismissed the idea of one of the members of the European Parliament that the country could accommodate 50 Syrian orphans, noting that the republic should first of all take care of its own orphans but would continue to allocate aid directly to countries of migrants' origin.
"Why should we take in [Syrian orphans]? We have our own orphans, whom we should prepare for life ... The most important thing is that the Czech Republic demonstrates its solidarity with other countries. Since 2015, we have allocated 2.5 billion korunas [$115 million] in aid to stem migration, our doctors and experts are working in Syria, the Czech Republic has provided medical aid to 2,500 patients, including Syrian children," Babis said in an interview with Pravo newspaper.
He also noted that during his recent visit to Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked him whether Prague could accommodate some of the undocumented migrants whom the union had been seeking to redistribute.
"I replied that we cannot take in any of refugees. It is our symbolic position in response to the European Union's inability to resolve the migration issue," Babis pointed out.
When asked to comment on the recent anti-immigration protests in the city of Chemnitz, which had been shattered by the murder of a local resident, allegedly committed by two migrants of Iraqi and Syrian decent, he said that it was an internal issue of Germany and there were various views on the event.
"Anyway, it is clear that Germany has simply failed to tackle migration ... Therefore, it is important for Europe to send a clear signal that its doors are closed and that it will not take in any new migrants, and those who go to Europe on vessels must return. One can in no case say that if [such] a ship arrives, then we should redistribute refugees among us, as French President Emmanuel Macron suggests," Babis concluded.
The European Union has been facing an acute migration crisis since 2015 when hundreds of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arrived in Europe from Northern Africa and the middle East. Migration has been a thorny issue for EU members. The Czech Republic as well as Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, have been opposing the system under which each EU member state has to accept a mandatory quota of refugees.
