The Slovak government will file a lawsuit against the European Union at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Fico confirmed and stated that Slovakia will not implement the decision into its legislation, the TASR newswire reported. By doing so, the government will voluntarily start the infringement process.
Fico criticised the fact that it was the majority vote in the council of ministers on Tuesday rather than the consensus of heads of states at today's summit that decided. By entering the infringement procedure Slovakia will not only protest against the quotas, but will also influence the further functioning of the EU, Fico noted as reported by TASR.
"This too is a great added value of the lawsuit that we are going to file, the great added value of our resistance, that we cannot afford for Europe to work on the principle of majority against minority," Fico said as quoted by TASR. "Otherwise we're through."
Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák suggested Slovakia might use legal means to defend itself prior to the cabinet's session. The new moment in the EU is that such an important decision was passed with the qualified majority, which means that all countries which disagreed with the proposal, including Slovakia, were outvoted, the minister stressed.
“The force in fact decided it,” Lajčák said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “This is not the way how the EU usually communicates. We will see what this will mean for EU unity and the atmosphere in the EU.”
Fico: Quotas will end in a debacle Read more The September 23 session of EU member states’ leaders in Brussels should be a reflection of where the EU is now and what its future will be like, the minister continued.
He also said that though other countries do not like the attitude of Slovakia, he stressed that this opinion reflects its authentic position.
“Our task is not only to be praised, but to represent this nation,” Lajčák said, as quoted by TASR.
He also assumes that it is not in the European Commission’s powers to decide on the arrival of tens of thousands of people to Europe and their redistribution among member states. The minister also lacks the solutions that would actually target the problems pertaining to the migration crisis, as reported by TASR.
The government will discuss at its September 23 session the passed plan and also its response to it. Moreover, Lajčák plans to take there the legal analyses authored by his ministry’s experts which he wants to discuss with Justice Minister Tomáš Borec, TASR wrote.
