Beirut wants to follow example of E. European states that reject refugees – FM

Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has said Beirut wants to follow the example of eastern EU states that have largely rejected refugees as a way of resolving its own refugee crisis, AFP reports. Bassil sympathized with the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia’s refusal to accept refugee distribution quotas proposed by the EU in the wake of the 2015-16 migrant crisis. These states “decided that the redistribution of refugees among European countries is not in their national interest, although they faced EU sanctions for that,” Bassil said on Wednesday in Prague. “I would like this attitude to be an inspiration for Lebanon, because every state must make national interests its top priority.” Lebanon says it is hosting 1.5 million Syrians – around a quarter of its own population.