Czechs do not want a larger Muslim presence in the
country, according to Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.
“We have no strong Muslim community here, and to be honest, we do not
want a strong Muslim community to become established here,” he said
in an interview with the Pravo newspaper on Tuesday.
The Czech Republic shared Germany’s desire to stem the tide of
refugees from the Middle East, he said, “but we have different views
on how to achieve this.”
The comments by Sobotka, who heads a three-party governing coalition,
came two days before a visit to Prague by German Chancellor Angela
Merkel.
The Czech Republic, along with fellow Visegrad states Poland, Hungary
and Slovakia, is against a permanent refugee quota system for European
countries as advocated by Merkel. They believe it should be up to
national governments to decide how many refugees to take in.
“The bottom line is that it is national governments which must
guarantee the safety of their citizens,” he said.
South Africa Today – World News – Czech Republic
