Slovakia not to join system of distributing migrants rescued at sea

The issue of migration was one of the main items on the agenda of this week's EU Home Affairs Council in Luxembourg. According to the Slovak Interior Minister Denisa Saková, Slovakia will not join the voluntary system of distributing migrants rescued at sea. Following a mini-summit in Valletta on September 23, Germany, France, Italy and Malta submitted a plan in Luxembourg to set up an 'accelerated system' for dealing with migrants rescued from the Mediterranean. The EU will provide "financial, technical and operational support" to the countries involved. According to the Slovak Interior Minister, Slovakia and the other Visegrad Four (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) insist that the causes of migration should be tackled, with a focus on the countries of origin and transit countries. "We can help countries affected by migration, be it in detention camps or asylum centres, but we aren't in favour of increasing migratory pressure, either via the Mediterranean route or through the Balkans," said the minister.