Contrasting feedback for Slovakia’s immigration policy

"Slovakia is a country that is open to migration and deals with immigration and asylum policies correctly in order to manage migratory flows," said William Lacy Swing, General Director of the International Organisation for Migration after a meeting with representatives of the Slovak Government on Tuesday. Swing praised the fact that Slovakia has chosen the migration issue as one of the priorities of its upcoming Presidency of the Council of the EU. Not everybody agrees with Swing's statement regarding Slovakia being a country open to migration, however. Slovak non-governmental organisations such as the Human Rights League, the Institute for Public Affairs and even the government's own Slovak Business Agency have often criticised Slovak authorities for putting a lot of administrative barriers in front of individual non-EU citizens who want to come to study, work or do business in Slovakia and doing little to help them integrate in the country. In addition to this, the Slovak prime minister's statement that "there is no room for Islam in Slovakia" and that he "does not wish to see a compact Muslim community in Slovakia" have attracted criticism from the Party of European Socialists (PES) to whom his own party Smer-SD belongs.