Interior minister against equal rights for legal immigrants to EU

The Czech interior minister, Martin Pecina, says legal migrants who arrive in the European Union should not immediately have the same rights as EU citizens. That is a provision included in the Stockholm Program, which sets forth the EU’s justice and migration policy for the period from 2010 to 2014. Speaking at a meeting of interior ministers in Brussels, Mr Pecina said granting migrants equal rights could resemble the system in Canada, which Prague has criticised as too benevolent. He said a similar system in the EU could encourage economic migration to Europe. Ottawa re-introduced visa requirements for Czechs in July, after a large rise in the number of Czech Romanies applying for asylum in Canada.