Slovakian President Vetoes Anti-Muslim Bill; Override Expected

AFP reports that in Slovakia yesterday, President Andrej Kiska vetoed as "discriminatory" a bill that would make it more difficult for Muslims and other religious minorities to receive government subsidies.  Currently under Slovakian law, a religion must have at least 20,000 followers in the country in order to qualify for subsidies.  The bill that was passed by the National Council (the Parliament) would increase that number to 50,000.  Some 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims currently live in Slovakia, whose total population is 5.4 million. It is expected that the National Council will override the President's veto after Prime Minister Robert Fico told reporters, "While I am prime minister, I will never agree to establish a unified Muslim community in Slovakia."

Slovakia Will Reject Muslim Migrants In EU Redistribution Plan

Last month, the European Union ministers agreed to a plan to redistribute some 32,000 of the 150,000 migrants from war-torn Syria, Iraq, Eritrea and Somalia that have found their way across the Mediterranean to Greece and Italy.  As reported by TRT World, the EU hopes to reach agreement by the end of the year on redistribution of an additional 8,000.  Meanwhile, The Telegraph reported yesterday that while Slovakia has agreed to accept 200 of the migrants, it says it will not accept any Muslims.  An Interior Ministry spokesman said:

[W]e don't have any mosques in Slovakia so how can Muslims be integrated if they are not going to like it here?

EU sources say that while it would be legal to prioritize Christians because they are at extra risk of persecution, rejecting Muslims would be impermissible discrimination. But the Slovakian government says it plans to ask arriving migrants their religion.