RIGA (Sputnik) — On Wednesday, Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma said Latvia would accept its first refugees under the EU-proposed quota system in January 2016.
"In fact, the greatest achievement — free movement — would stop existing. It does not mean that we will not be able to go anywhere, it just means [things] will be as in the past, and border controls will be restored," Kozlovskis told Latvian State Television in an interview.
Earlier in the week, Maira Roze, the deputy head of Latvia's Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, said the country had received 317 asylum claims in 2015. According to Roze, 43 and 71 asylum seekers arrived in Latvia in September and October, respectively.
According to the EU border agency Frontex, over 1.2 million illegal crossings have been documented at EU borders since the beginning of 2015.
