BRATISLAVA, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Issues related to the migration should be debated on smaller platforms than the EU27 in order to boost mutual understanding of individual sides, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stated on Thursday.
Fico reacted to a recent statement by French President Emmanuel Macron on an alleged lack of solidarity from Eastern European countries, which supposedly view the EU as a supermarket that is only about money and not values.
"Each member country must display solidarity. Then it can be debated whether anyone should prescribe to us how such a solidarity should look, or whether we can select from a list of measures in order to adjust solidarity to our ideas, opinions and interests," stressed Fico, adding that more than 60,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean into Europe in the first five months of 2017, with the figure representing a 25-percent increase on an annual basis.
"The question is - are we able to halt it, or will we keep pretending that we'll somehow manage to distribute them?" asked Fico.
"It's necessary to show solidarity with people who're fleeing war or are in danger of being killed or injured. But I reject any pressure being exerted on Europe due to purely economic reasons. So, I'm for dialogue," concluded Fico.
