Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico speaks at the end of an extraordinary leaders' summit on migrants. | JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Socialists step up pressure on Fico and Orbán Political groups in the European Parliament try to keep members in line on migration.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will travel to Strasbourg next week to defend his recent statements on EU migration policy at a meeting of socialists in the European Parliament, who say they will push to have him expelled from the party if they aren't satisfied with his explanation.

Gianni Pittella, president of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the Parliament, said Wednesday that Fico would be expected to “make a few clarifications” on his recent statements, including on refugees.

“I am happy to hear him defend his positions,” Pittella said in an telephone interview.

These include Fico’s claim that his country was “built for Slovaks, not for minorities.” Fico also said he would take the EU to court over the decision by member states earlier this month to relocate 120,000 refugees across Europe — an action taken over the objections of Slovakia and three other countries.

“If Fico doesn’t change his positions, the group will maintain its call to evict him,” Pittella said.

Pittella also called on the center-right European People's Party group to expel Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán for his actions in response to the refugee crisis.

“I am asking the leaders of the group, Manfred Weber and Joseph Daul: Are Orbán’s actions compatible with values of Christianity and solidarity?” Pittella said.

The EPP, the European Parliament’s biggest political group, includes 12 members from Orbán’s Fidesz’s party. But the group is divided over how to deal with the uncompromising positions taken recently by the Hungarian leader.

Some EPP members, such as Viviane Reding, said they want to punish what they consider the authoritarian policies of Orbán, while others in the party defend him for advocating stronger border patrols.

“We are continuing our discussions with Hungarian MEPs,” said a parliament official, who added that some members of Fidesz had explained the position of the Hungarian government on migration at an EPP group meeting Wednesday.

Pittella said his new call was intended to put additional pressure on the EPP, in order to clarify what it wants to do with its Fidesz members. The S&D group is also hoping to differentiate itself from the EPP on this issue by showing a willingness to discipline one of its own.

Pittella said it was “unjustifiable” that Orbán's government had built a fence along Hungary's border with Serbia to block the flow of migrants, and claimed that the country's treatment of refugees has been “inhumane.”

The socialists' decision on whether to expel Fico will be taken at the presidency level of the Party of European Socialists (PES), an umbrella group of socialist political parties. The PES is expected to have "a discussion" on Fico’s hardline positions on October 9, a party spokeswoman said.

In a statement issued last week, Fico said the efforts to kick him out of the party were “nonsense.”

"The motion is tabled by a person hailing from the country that has flagrantly violated the Schengen rules. Maybe that's where the nervousness stems from," he said.