Opposition slams government for EU agreement on migrant solidarity

The opposition parties in the Czech Parliament have criticized the government for supporting the EU agreement that would see countries either accept a share of asylum-seekers or pay into a fund managed by Brussels to care for migrants. ANO party MP Jana Mračková Vildumetzová said Interior Minister Vít Rakušan had squandered the former government’s valiant fight against migrant quotas and a redistribution of migrants. The Freedom and Direct Democracy party led by Tomio Okamura said the interior minister did not have a mandate to nod to such an agreement and called for a special session of Parliament on the issue. Minister Rakušan stressed that countries unwilling to accept migrants would only have to make a financial contribution to those who do and moreover pointed out that Czechia has already taken in a large number of migrants from Ukraine.