Brussels, 27/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Visegrad group of countries which brings together Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, will hold a mini-summit to discuss migration on 15 February, two days before the European summit of 17-18 February at which the focus will be on the UK question and migration.
The mini-summit, called by Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka on 26 January, will take place in Prague, Reuters reports. It will look to ask the EU to apply stringent checks to protect the external borders and restrict arrivals of refugees. The four Visegrad counties are, indeed, among the most reluctant to implement the relocation decisions adopted by home affairs ministers in September.
Sobotka holds Greece in part responsible for the current situation having abdicated its obligations and believes that greater pressure has to be brought to bear on Turkey.
The announcement of the counter-summit comes after EU home affairs ministers called on the European Commission on 25 January to prepare the legal basis that will allow the six member states which are currently operating controls at their internal borders to extend them from mid-May by blocks of six months up to a maximum of two years. This move threatens the survival of the Schengen area, MEPs from the S&D Group have warned.
The Czech prime minister says that that is precisely why an alternative plan has to be prepared, whether or not Greece remains a part of Schengen, according to Reuters. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)