Refugees at the border between Hungary and Serbia. (source: Sme)
Prime Minister Robert Fico has sacrificed Slovakia's position in the European Union for the sake of his pre-election fight. He announced very vehemently that he would sue the Union for the compulsory refugee quotas, because, as he said, its further functioning is at stake. The lawsuit has little chance to succeed and at stake is the campaign of Robert Fico.
It is no surprise that Slovakia's arguments, tailor-made for Fico's voters whose fears of refugees are systematically being fed by local politicians, failed to impress the EU that needs to solve the unprecedented humanitarian crisis right now.
The quotas are not a solution the Union will be proud of. But actually the countries themselves that are now vehemently protesting against these quotas prepared the soil for them. As early as during the initial negotiations the Slovak government made it clear how it interprets the principle of voluntary aid: two hundred hand-picked Christian refugees who wouldn't build mosques in Slovakia and would not change the core values of the state.
Yet, the values that make Slovakia a part of Europe are not being changed by refugees, but rather by the prime minister and his cynical campaign.
