Prime Minister finds immigration quotas irrational

Slovakia continues rejecting the immigration mandatory quotas. The summit of prime ministers involving Slovakia's Robert Fico, the Czech Republic's Bohuslav Sobotka and Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann in Bratislava on Monday didn't result in any breakthrough. The views on the introduction of immigration quotas as held by Slovakia and the Czech Republic on one side and Austria on the other side did not diverge. "We are firm with our stance as to the V4 group to reject the quotas, as we consider them irrational", said Robert Fico. He reiterated that immigrants don't want to remain in Slovakia anyway. All three officials concurred on the need to improve the protection of the outer Schengen borders. "Maybe even in military terms", said Robert Fico. He added that if Greece, Italy and Hungary need help in this, Slovakia is ready to contribute in financial, material and personnel terms. The officials further debated the setting up of safety zones in European countries facing the strongest influx of immigrants to allow distinguishing of those who are escaping war as opposed to economic immigrants. Slovakia is also ready to contribute in this regard, but everything will depend on an agreement with the rest of the EU countries, said Fico. The Slovak premier reiterated that Slovakia wants to display solidarity with those whose lives and health are at risk. Nevertheless, there's also a security dimension to the problem, he stressed, noting that the mass of people coming to Europe - demonstrably - also includes figures from Islamic State.