Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis suggested using European Union funds earmarked for security and defence for making agreements with North African countries to reduce the number of migrants coming to Europe while on a visit to Warsaw on Monday.
Babis suggested such an agreement could resemble a 2016 EU deal with Turkey which mostly put a halt to the irregular arrival of Syrian refugees in Greece.
Migrants fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa are still making crossings from North Africa mainly to Italy.
The issue of how to handle migrants has split the EU, although arrivals are down dramatically from their 2015 peak of more than a million.
The governments of Italy and Germany are under heavy pressure at home to ensure fewer migrants come into their territory from across the Mediterranean, while eastern European leaders are bitterly opposed to taking them in.
Babis' Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki also criticised giving more funding to the EU's border agency Frontex, saying it would mean less money available for developing roads and railways.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International