Prime minister of Slovakia Robert Fico | Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Robert Fico: ‘Islam has no place in Slovakia’ Prime minister worries about migrants ‘changing the face of the country.’

Robert Fico has begun his third term as Slovakia's prime minister by stepping up his anti-Muslim rhetoric just weeks before the country takes over the EU Council presidency.

“It may look strange but sorry ... Islam has no place in Slovakia,” Fico told the TASR newswire Wednesday. The problem is not migrants coming in, he said, but "rather in them changing the face of the country.”

The Islamic Foundation in Slovakia told the Slovak Spectator website that Fico’s “repeated statements … do not only harm Slovak Muslims but also the country’s interests as a sovereign country which is building its position on the international scene.”

Fico formed a coalition government following the March 5 parliamentary election in which his populist left-wing Smer party lost its outright majority. In April, he was hospitalized and underwent heart surgery.

Slovakia takes over the six-month EU presidency on July 1 for the first time since joining the bloc in 2004, but some are concerned given the country's refusal to participate in the EU's refugee relocation scheme.

An official from the European People’s Party told POLITICO last week that no one in Brussels is enthusiastic about the Slovak presidency.

“We are in the middle of a huge reform on migration, and we’re almost over," the official said. "How are we going to be led by a country which will torpedo any plan on migration?”

Slovakia's state secretary for European affairs said earlier this month the country would pursue a “sustainable” EU migration policy.