Press Advisories

21. 7. 2016 11:47

The Prime Ministers of the V4 countries agreed on the necessity of continued cooperation in EU-27 and on the future reform of the EU

The Summit of the Presidents of the Governments of the countries of the Visegrad Group in Warsaw, 21. July 2016.
The Summit of the Presidents of the Governments of the countries of the Visegrad Group in Warsaw, 21. July 2016.
The Prime Ministers of the Visegrad Group countries met in Warsaw on Thursday 21 July 2016 to coordinate the common position of the V4 before upcoming meetings at EU level. The extraordinary summit dealt mainly with the current developments related to the negotiation process of the United Kingdom to withdraw from the EU and with the EU reform. The V4 Prime Ministers urge for the British request to withdraw to be presented without any delay, in order not to prolong the period of uncertainty. The agreement outcome was affirmed in a common declaration by the Prime Ministers.

Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Bohuslav Sobotka, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also discussed basic conditions of the negotiation. It is the indivisibility of four fundamental freedoms, i.e. the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital, that the Prime Ministers made their priority.

They also confirmed that the European Union should not negotiate with the United Kingdom the setting of the new relationship until the British Prime Minister announces the withdrawal of her country from the EU.

The Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka pointed out that the European Union has undergone a number of reforms. It needs to be ready for action and less bureaucratic, and it must win back the trust of its citizens. The Union should also focus on putting the economic and social convergence across the EU back on track and on strengthening its internal and external security.

The Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia also discussed the impacts of so-called Brexit on sectoral policies. Prime Minister Sobotka highlighted that the withdrawal of the UK from the EU would mean a loss of one of the most important digital agenda leaders. However, at the same time it is an opportunity to strengthen the role of the V4 countries and to complete the single market.

The present-day situation in Turkey was also among the topics discussed at the summit. As stated by Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, the Czech government believe that any further cooperation between the EU and Turkey needs to be conditional upon respecting democratic values and the rule of law.

This extraordinary summit is the first that was organised by Poland during its presidency of the Visegrad Group. Poland assumed the presidency after the Czech Republic on 1 July 2016.


Joint Statement of the Heads of Governments of the V4 Countries

Warsaw, 21 July 2016

The outcome of the UK referendum creates a new situation for the European Union. We can’t simply continue to look the other way and hope the crisis will pass away by itself. We need to bring the European idea closer to the citizens and narrow the existing gap between the European institutions and the expectation of the people. We need to conduct a deeper reflection on current challenges the Union is facing. The result of the referendum held in the UK has clearly shown that our reflection cannot avoid any specific concerns and even doubts our citizens may have about the EU. It has also shown that we must communicate the European project in a better way  as a Union of action and trust.

We recall that until the UK leaves the EU, EU law continues to apply to and within the UK, both when it comes to rights and obligations. There is a need to organize the withdrawal of the UK from the EU in an orderly fashion. We have to save the best of our strong political and economic ties with the United Kingdom.

One of the worst conclusions that Member States may draw from Brexit is dividing the EU in small clubs. This could fuel the fragmentation of the EU, whose strength lies above all in its scale and coherence. It is mostly thanks to the effect of scale and our ability to act together in the spirit of mutual trust that we can deliver as the EU both internally and on the global stage. This is why the EU is an important trade partner to our major global partners.

To prevent possible fragmentation the EU needs to refocus on proposals with tangible benefits for our citizens where agreement can be reached while refraining from wasting energy on proposal that divide Member States. In doing so, we need to carefully approach all the key sectoral policies in order to seek the balance where added value of a common EU action is evident and the temptation of over-regulation is avoided.

Turkey is our strategic ally in NATO and the EU candidate country. We support democratically elected government and hope Turkey will ensure stable constitutional order based on international law.  We all remain committed to working together with a democratic, inclusive and stable Turkey to address our common challenges.

The EU has to have a well-balanced migration and asylum policy. Recently an unprecedented and uncontrolled migratory pressure to the EU has put into trial our border guards, security and social services. A European consensus is needed concerning the objective of the European policy to stem migratory pressure on European Union as a whole including strengthening the protection of external borders of the Schengen area. Our efforts should also concentrate on the effective checks who is in need of our genuine assistance and who only tries to improve his economic status. The V4 countries offer their experience and support in this matter. However, simply better protection of external borders is not enough – in order to solve this crisis and to better address its root causes we need better cooperation with our neighbors and other third countries and we should elaborate broader commitment at the international level. We are convinced that the legislative process on Commission proposals should follow the guidance of the European Council. We hope that the upcoming UN high-level plenary meeting, to be held on 19th September 2016, could bring further discussion on the issue. 

The EU has successfully acted together in order to face global challenges like climate change and shape global policies in this matter. The Paris Agreement is the first universal lasting climate regime applicable to all parties; we have now 186 individual country targets, including the one submitted by the EU. The progress on our NDC has been made and the UK has always played a crucial role in the EU efforts to reduce GHG emissions. We should continue in this spirit, confirming and fulfilling the already submitted contribution and the individual efforts of each country jointly with the ratification procedure.

In the aftermath of Brexit the Single Market should be further deepened as a core project of the European Union that unites all Member States and continues to bring tangible results for citizens. In any case the erosion of the already achieved level of freedom in the area of free movement of workers and provision of services linked to movement of workers must be avoided.

The V4 countries will continue to be the drivers of the Single Market agenda. Nevertheless, we are also in favor of keeping the UK as close as possible to the Single Market accordingly with the guiding principle of reciprocity – more access for more obligations in all four pillars of the Single Market.

Building on the great achievements so far we should further explore the untapped potential. For example better enforcement of the Single Market rules, further liberalization of services, would make the EU more competitive, offering new jobs and growth and resulting in prosperity and strengthened legitimization of European project.

Furthermore, we need to continue our work on finalization of the Single Market in light of  the digital revolution. We will support the delivery of an ambitious Digital Single Market. It should contribute to the rapid pick up of new technologies across all sectors of the economy. The successful Digital Single Market should encourage investment and innovation to transform the industry and scale-up of SMEs and start-ups in order to make European economies more competitive on a global scale.

While delivering the DSM, we should stick to the principles of better regulation with an effort to simplify and remove the regulatory burden in traditional sectors of economy so that the innovative business models can flourish. What is more, we should make sure that the DSM is designed in a way that it encourages a fair distribution of benefits throughout the EU and closes the gap in the society by focusing on digital skills.

Finalization of the EU internal energy market and strengthening of the EU mechanisms for security of energy supply building on the Member States and regional responsibilities are relevant energy policy areas and examples where the potential of cooperation on EU level should be seized, while preserving the Member States choices on energy-mix. The ability to ensure secure, affordable and sustainable energy supplies for  our citizens and industry  should be the measure of our effectiveness in that regard.

 

 

Stable and fully functioning EMU is in our common interest. Taking into account the positive experience of creating the banking union we should ensure integrity of the single market while working on the future architecture of the EMU.

It's time for the Union to be more pragmatic, focused on the essentials and reforms. At the same time the EU must act with due consideration and solve the problems of citizens while respecting the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality as well as the role of the national parliaments. Particularly their opinions namely yellow or orange cards should be fully taken into account by the EU institutions. Respect for diversity of the Member States shall constitute an important point as well.

As V4 countries, we are ready to take an active part in the discussion on the future of Europe. The strengths of the V4 countries and the whole region, include energy and enthusiasm for the European integration project. Our societies are positive about being part of the EU. The contribution of the V4 to EU’s success lies also in its economic dynamism. Young, well educated, mobile societies generate growth and contribute to modernization of the whole Union.

With this in mind we consider the meeting of Heads of State and Government in September in Bratislava as an excellent opportunity to start the necessary political reflection on the EU and its future. It should take into account the need for the EU to increase democratic legitimacy and more effectively address citizen´s needs and concerns in order to regain their trust in the common European project. To achieve this goal, the issue of communication of the EU agenda to our citizens should also have a prominent place in this reflection.

print article   email   facebook   twitter

Photo gallery

Documents attached

Photo Gallery