WASHINGTON — One of the causes driving the Brexit movement — the desire in Britain to quit the European Union — is fear over immigration. Backers of the Leave campaign, whose hopes may come to fruition at a referendum Thursday, claim that the freedom of movement allowed in much of the continent, as well as proposals to accommodate an influx of migrants from the Middle East and elsewhere, are simply unacceptable.
Ironically, that’s an argument for which the leader of the country slated to assume the presidency of the European Council, the executive body heading up the European Union, may feel sympathy.
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The job of the presidency rotates every six months among EU members. Next week, Slovakia will replace the Netherlands. And its prime minister, Robert Fico, has been one of the more outspoken European leaders on the subject of Muslim immigration.
‘‘Islam has no place in Slovakia,’’ Fico told reporters in May. He warned that ‘‘migrants change the character of our country,’’ and declared he wouldn’t allow such change to affect his nation.
Fico has made similar remarks over the past year, as Syria’s escalating humanitarian crisis spilled into Europe, bringing a wave of immigrants, including refugees, to the continent’s borders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel bucked popular opinion and welcomed refugees — with roughly 1 million arriving in Germany — but her decision gave momentum to her country’s Euroskeptic far-right.
Fico, like other politicians from Eastern and Central Europe, has argued both that his country has no obligation to house migrants and that, unlike the United States and leading Western European nations, has little experience of Muslim immigration.
‘‘Since Slovakia is a Christian country, we cannot tolerate an influx of 300,000-400,000 Muslim immigrants who would like to start building mosques all over our land and trying to change the nature, culture, and values of the state,’’ he said in 2015.
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Fico has indicated the burden to deal with conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa lie further west and mocked Germany for treating Muslim immigrants as a ‘‘protected species.’’