Four EU member-states reject Juncker refugee quota numbers

Germany calls for solidarity among EU countries on refugee crisis

Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic are maintaining their harsh stance on the matter of accepting refugees into their countries. During Friday’s meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers the ministers of the aforementioned member-states expressed their disagreement with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s proposals on Wednesday for refugees to be relocated to all EU member-states based on a quota system. There opposition comes despite the dramatic warning by German Foreign Minister Walter Steimeier that the migration crisis would be the greatest challenge facing the history of the EU. Juncker’s plan provided that 120,000 refugees estimated to be trapped mainly in Greece, Hungary and Italy be shared around other European countries, with Germany already accepting to offer asylum to over 800,000 people 2015. The four countries rejected the quotas given by Brussels, arguing it would the decision of how many refugees they would accept was national matter.