Tuesday, June 13, 2017

EU takes Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic to court over their refusal to take in asylum seekers

(Brussels) The European Union's executive will decide on Tuesday to open legal cases against three Eastern member states for failing to take in asylum seekers in which to relieve those on the front lines of the EU's migration crisis. Poland and Hungary have refused to take in a single person under a plan agreed upon in 2015 to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece which had been overwhelmed by mass influx of people from the Middle East and Africa.


Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is on record of saying:
"We will not give in to blackmail from Brussels and we reject the mandatory relocation quota."
Poland's Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak has stated:
"We believe that the relocation methods attract more waves of immigration to Europe, they are ineffective."
The Czech Republic had initially taken in 12 people from their assigned quota of 2,691, but said earlier in June it would take no more in, citing security concerns.

After a rash of terrorist attacks across Western Europe, the spotlight has really fallen on public security, and the three countries above claim that hosting people from the mainly Muslim countries increases risks to safety. Naturally, this hasn't gone down well in Brussels, with EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker expressing his displeasure:
"Those that do not take part have to assume that they will be faced with infringement procedures."
It's quite plain that the EU is unable to sort out its immigration problem. Instead of adopting a coherent immigration policy, it continues to say "come on in". Here is an official EU video aimed at migrants who wish to come to the EU: