PM warns EU pressure over quotas fuelling populist forces

The Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has warned that prolonged pressure over the matter of migrant quotas is fuelling populist forces in the Czech Republic and could, in a worst case scenario, lead to the Czech Republic leaving the EU.

In an interview for Die Welt the Czech prime minister said the Czech Republic was not shirking its responsibility for helping solve the migrant crisis but felt strongly that it should be resolved outside the EU, in the counties of origin.

Mr. Babiš has come under pressure from the anti-migrant Party of Freedom and Direct Democracy to agree on a bill which would enable Czechs to vote in a referendum on leaving the EU, but has resisted the pressure, saying that referenda on foreign policy issues such as this are unacceptable.