Slovakia has said it will not accept any Muslims under an EU scheme to share migrants more evenly between member states.
“We want to help Europe with the migration issue. We could take 800 Muslims but we don't have any mosques in Slovakia so how can Muslims be integrated if they are not going to like it here?” Ivan Metik, an interior ministry spokesman, said.
Slovakia is to host 200 migrants under an EU plan to redistribute 40,000 away from Italy and Greece, which are overwhelmed with the numbers arriving across the Mediterranean.
The Slovakian government said it plans to ask the migrants their religion on arrival.
The European Commission expressed its displeasure at the Slovakian plans. “We act here in the spirit of the treaty, which prevents any form of discrimination,” Annika Breidthardt, a spokesman, said.
While it is legal to prioritise Christians who are at extra risk of persecution because of their religion, turning away Muslims because there are no mosques would be discriminatory and of dubious legality, according to one EU source. » | Matthew Holehouse, Brussels, and Justin Huggler, Berlin | Wednesday, August 19, 2015
