Due to illegal migration, the Czech Republic will temporarily restore border controls with Slovakia – Denník N

From midnight on Wednesday to Thursday, the Czech Republic will temporarily restore border controls with Slovakia. The reason is increased illegal migration, as migrants mainly from Syria go to Germany through Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The Czech government is introducing the measure for 10 days, after which it will be reassessed. In the meantime, he wants to negotiate intensively with Slovakia. “I negotiated several times with the Slovak Minister of the Interior and asked the Slovak side to fulfill what follows from international treaties, that is, the readmission agreement with the Czech Republic. I say quite frankly that we did not achieve as much success as we expected with diplomatic steps,” said Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan. He informed the Slovak Minister of the Interior, Roman Mikulco, about the resumption of controls. “Border crossing will be allowed at designated places and, of course, normal controls will be carried out when crossing the state border,” says the Czech minister. “We have exhausted all the standard options that the law gives us,” said the Austrian. According to him, the Czech police have detained 11,000 illegal migrants since the beginning of the year. He also identified as a problem the fact that Hungary does not comply with the agreements and does not take back refugees. “We have a domino effect here,” he said. “We have to take this preventive measure to discourage migrants from using this route,” added Prime Minister Petr Fiala. The Ministries of the Interior and Justice are currently working on an amendment that would significantly increase the penalties for smuggling. (n, tasr, idnes, čtk)