Slovak PM to Attend Visegrad Group Meeting Ahead of EU-Turkey Summit

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will take part on Monday in a meeting of the Visegrad Group of four central European countries (V4), who oppose the implementation of the EU refugee quota scheme, ahead of the EU-Turkey summit, according to an official statement.

"On Monday, March 7, 2016, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is due to attend the Brussels extraordinary European Council meeting. A regular meeting of the V4 prime ministers will be held prior to the Council meeting," the statement, published on the prime minister's website, read.

On Monday, Brussels will host the EU-Turkey joint summit aimed at addressing the issue of migration crisis. In particular, the meeting is expected to focus on measures that will lead to EU member states equitably sharing responsibility for refugees arriving in the bloc and to working out a collective approach to the issue.

In 2015, the European Union introduced a refugee quota system on the resettlement of 160,000 refugees from Greece, Italy and Hungary across EU member states within two years. Slovakia is one of the V4 group states, along with Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, opposing the implementation of the scheme.

On Tuesday, Fico said that Slovakia would not participate in the relocation of refugees on its territory on the basis of the EU quota system.