Foreign Affairs Ministry Fails to Understand SaS Migrant Requests

Bratislava, April 1 (TASR) – The Foreign and European Affairs Ministry fails to understand the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party’s attempt at dialogue about migrants displayed on Friday, ministry spokesman Peter Stano told TASR later on the same day.

Stano was referring to SaS calling upon the Foreign Affairs Ministry to state clearly how Syrian refugees, whom the EU is supposed to accept from Turkey, will be distributed among individual countries.

The spokesman emphasised that any communication between political parties and the Government portfolios is usually carried out via the Parliament and not at press conferences. Furthermore, the ministry also fails to understand statements made by SaS MP Martin Klus. “The conclusions of the European Council represent the end result, agreed by all member states. These conclusions are not secret; they’re published and accessible online,” said Stano in response to Klus’ appeal to the ministry to publish how Prime Minister Robert Fico defended Slovak interests at the recent Council’s summit.

“The conclusion of the European Council also states that the agreement with Turkey creates no new commitments for the member states in terms of (migrant) relocations or resettlements. Therefore, the support for this agreement does not fly in the face of proclaimed long-term principles and positions of the Slovak Republic,” said Stano.

As for the upcoming Slovak Presidency in the Council of EU, Stano underlined migration as one of the Slovak priorities, adding that the ministry had communicated this for a relatively long time. “Someone seemingly failed to hear this,” he said.