Migrant quotas drive a wedge through Europe

Migrants queue to register after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border
Migrants queue to register after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border
NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/GETTY IMAGES

Germany and France united against the minnows of eastern Europe yesterday to push through quotas that will force them to accept thousands of migrants.

After days of diplomacy failed to find consensus, EU interior ministers held a majority vote to overrule the Hungarian, Romanian, Czech and Slovakian opposition to quotas relocating 120,000 migrants, principally from Italy and Greece, across the EU. Britain has an opt-out from the quotas.

The vote has opened the deepest rift in the EU since the eastern members joined. Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia, immediately said: “As long as I am prime minister, migrant quotas will not be implemented in Slovakia.”

Poland, which had vowed to fight against the quotas, was praised by Germany for its change of heart