Slovakia, as the presiding country of the European Council from 1 July 2016, has the responsibility for implementing the EU-Turkey agreement on refugee flows and the proportional refugee relocation programme in the Member States.

However, the Slovak Prime Minister Mr Fico and his government ministers appear hostile to the implementation of the agreement and refuse to undertake their European responsibilities in respect thereof.

Specifically, Mr Fico has stated that ‘there is no place for Islam in Slovakia' and that ‘it is impossible to integrate Muslims'.

The Slovak Minister of the Interior, Mr Melinak, has stated for his part that ‘the quota system is not the solution'.
On this basis, and given that the Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, has stated that there are significant delays in the relocation and resettlement process of refugees:

1. How does the Commission evaluate the statements of the Slovak Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, including as regards the place of Islam in the Union's Member States?

2. In what way will the Commission work with the Slovak Presidency towards the implementation of the joint European decisions for refugees and overcome the significant delays?