Fico: If We Don't protect EU External Borders, It's Too Late

Brussels, October 18 (TASR-correspondent) - We cannot afford to ruin one of the main symbols and greatest achievements of the EU in the form of the Schengen area by responding to the failure to protect the Union's external borders by introducing internal border checks, said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) following the end of a EU summit in Brussels on Friday. "The philosophy that if we don't protect our external borders, it's too late, is finally starting to apply in the EU. Because of the 100 percent of irregular migrants who enter the EU territory, we can return maybe 20 percent to somewhere, but 80 percent stay in our territory," Fico said, praising the initiative of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has concluded an agreement on the transfer of asylum seekers in Italy to migrant centres in Albania, where their applications will be assessed. The premier also pointed to efforts of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who on Thursday asked EU leaders to suspend asylum decision-making processes in connection with the situation on the border with Belarus. Fico pointed out that allowing such an exception to EU rules is not easy. "That is why I think we made a very good decision on Thursday. An extraordinary situation calls for extraordinary solutions. By doing so, we have more or less given Poland the green light to take certain measures on its border with Belarus that will prevent the abuse of migration for political purposes," the Slovak prime minister explained. Fico, together with representatives of ten other countries, attended an informal meeting on migration management ahead of the summit on Thursday. This event will be followed, he said, by a small summit that Fico has convened in Komarno on October 22, inviting Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The aim of the meeting will be to address the Western Balkan migration route. After this meeting, the Slovak prime minister didn't rule out a meeting with other countries concerned, including Croatia and Austria. zel/mcs