PRAGUE (Sputnik) — The minister said he believed that it was necessary to continue to press the sides to the conflict in Syria to reach an agreement, as well as Turkey and Greece to perform their obligations to limit the migrant flow to Europe.
"However, we must reckon with such possibilities as the countries not being able to fulfill their obligations… And so we must also consider a plan B," Zaoralek told reporters.
One of the backup options, according to Zaoralek, would be establishing new external borders of the European Union.
So far, seven EU states, namely Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany, France and Malta have applied strict border controls along the internal borders of the Schengen Area to curb the influx of undocumented immigrants.
Europe is facing a major refugee crisis, as hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers from conflict-torn countries in North Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia attempt to escape poverty and violence in their home countries.
The EU border agency Frontex detected 1.55 million illegal border crossings during the course of 2015.
