Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said Europe’s patience for mass migration is running out following the attack in Berlin.
Speaking today before a televised news conference the Slovak leader said the incident, in which it is suspected a Pakistani migrant crashed a truck into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in Berlin killing 12, was an attack on European identity.
Fico said: “We consider that attacking people at Christmas markets, who to some extent are preparing for Christmas, is an attack against the cultural identity of Europe. We need the public to know that these attacks that are taking place, and that they are attacks against European identity”.
Asserting that across the EU “the cup of patience is beginning to spill over”, he told reporters: “The public in Europe will, legitimately, expect considerably more vigorous measures to ensure that they can spend their free time [in peace].”
The Prime Minister vowed to continue policies aimed at ensuring Slovakians’ safety, stating: “I think the measures we have taken as a result of migration crisis, were absolutely right, and I believe that in a short time they will prove to have been necessary.
“For as long as I’m Prime Minister I will never agree to develop a Muslim community in Slovakia,” he added.
Fico has been one of the toughest critics of the EU’s lacklustre response to the recent tidal wave of mass migration, opposing mandatory refugee quotas and refusing to take migrants from Italy and Greece.
Politicians and the media in Germany are concerned that the Berlin attack, in which at least 12 people have died, will increase scepticism about mass migration.
Roderich Kiesewetter, an MP in the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, said he fears the incident will “radicalise” Germans, adding that the government will have to “explain” the attacks and “calm down” the public.