EU states increasingly say they prefer non-Muslim refugees
- 9 years ago
European Union member Cyprus said Monday it was willing to take in up to 300 Middle East refugees to help ease the crisis facing the EU, but preferred them to be Christians.
"We have already stated that 260, a maximum of 300, people can be taken in" by the small eastern Mediterranean island, Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos told state radio.
Hasikos later issued a statement clarifying that other EU members have also said they would prefer to take in Christians and that Cyprus has in the past rescued and received refugees "without discrimination on ethnicity or religion."
Estonia too has balked at the prospect of Muslim immigration, with social affairs minister Margus Tsahkna explaining that "After all, we are a country belonging to Christian culture."
Europe has been facing an unprecedented influx this summer of people seeking refuge, many of them from war-torn Syria, and the European Commission is to unveil Wednesday a proposal for mandatory EU quotas to relocate 120,000 refugees.
"We have already stated that 260, a maximum of 300, people can be taken in" by the small eastern Mediterranean island, Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos told state radio.
Hasikos later issued a statement clarifying that other EU members have also said they would prefer to take in Christians and that Cyprus has in the past rescued and received refugees "without discrimination on ethnicity or religion."
Estonia too has balked at the prospect of Muslim immigration, with social affairs minister Margus Tsahkna explaining that "After all, we are a country belonging to Christian culture."
Europe has been facing an unprecedented influx this summer of people seeking refuge, many of them from war-torn Syria, and the European Commission is to unveil Wednesday a proposal for mandatory EU quotas to relocate 120,000 refugees.