EU legal adviser says Czech stance on refugee quotas violated EU law

A top European Union legal adviser Eleanor Sharpston says the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary have been breaking EU law by refusing to comply with the EU’s migrant quota scheme.

In a legal opinion issued on Thursday, Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston said the three nations ‘failed to fulfil their obligations under EU law’ by not complying with the ‘provisional and time-limited mechanism for the mandatory relocation’ of people seeking international protection.

The European Commission in 2017 took the three nations to court for their refusal to take in asylum-seekers in line with the EC’s mandatory redistribution mechanism.

Although Mrs Sharpston’s opinion is not legally binding, such recommendations are usually followed by the European Court of Justice.

Author: Ruth Fraňková