Jean Asselborn, who has represented Luxembourg at the Council of Ministers of the European Union since 2004, said the EU was grappling with three major challenges – Brexit, migration and “the community of values”.
But of those three, he said certain member states’ refusal to accept immigrants and relieve the pressure on the likes of Greece and Italy was the biggest problem facing Europe.
Mr Asselborn suggested only the European Courts of Justice could force Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to fulfil their migrant quota.
He told Austrian newspaper Tiroler Tageszeitung: “Countries that do not want to open the door to refugees, who speak Arabic and are Muslim, ignore the values of solidarity and responsibility.
“And that does not match what the EU actually represents. It is a peace project, a project based on values. It is not contracts that hold Europe together.
“These are the common values. And it is the values that prevent wars. 2015 was not only about the Geneva Convention, but also about solidarity with Italy and Greece.
“Refusing to relieve those countries is something that can destroy Europe. Because non-solidarity in the refugee question also means non-solidarity in other issues.”
He added: “But you can do well in elections if you say you can eliminate the challenge of migration.”
According to the European Parliament’s annual Parlemeter, Greece and Italy are now two of the top three most eurosceptic EU states, along with Cyprus.
This week Italian MEP Marco Zanni predicted anti-immigration countries could create a “bloc within a bloc” to oppose Brussels diktats.
He said: “The governments of Poland, Hungary and maybe the Czech Republic, in the future, could create a bloc inside the Council which will oppose and create a convergence in opposing some EU policies, for example, immigration.
“It’s a clear possibility, and it’s a sign that European people are switching to the so-called eurosceptic parties because they are proposing that are creating response to the three major crisis that European people are living – the economic crisis, the immigration crisis and the internal security crisis.
“To me, that is the main reason why people are voting for and giving support to eurosceptics.”