EU Approves Refugee Plan despite Opposition

The Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary, voted against the plan, while Finland abstained, RT reported on Tuesday.

Under the plan, refugees will be relocated from Italy, Greece, and Hungary to other countries in the EU.

Prague's decision did not come as a surprise, as Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said hours before the meeting began that the country would reject any quota system.

He added that any attempt to impose such a scheme could end in “big ridicule for the European Commission” and the governments supporting the plan.

Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec expressed his distaste for the plan after the vote, tweeting, "We will soon realise that the emperor has no clothes. Common sense lost today."

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said those who decided to push through quotas nonsensically caused a deep rift over a very sensitive issue.

However, under European law, three of the countries that voted against the proposal — the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia — would be required to accept migrants against their will, an EU diplomat told The New York Times on condition of anonymity after the vote.

Finland was the only country of the EU's 28 members to abstain from the vote. Poland, which had previously opposed the proposal, voted in favor of it.

The plan has been criticized by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which says it is insufficient.

"A relocation program alone, at this stage in the crisis, will not be enough to stabilize the situation," UNHCR Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said, urging the EU to set up reception facilities able to handle tens of thousands of refugees at a time.

The UN estimates that around 480,000 migrants have arrived in Europe this year alone, and are now reaching European shores at a rate of nearly 6,000 a day.

The refugee crisis – the worst since World War II – has triggered disputes between member states; some have thrown open their doors to new arrivals, while others have tightened border controls.