Prime Minister Sobotka hosts Final Summit of Czech V4 Presidency in Prague

Following the meeting, Prime Minister Sobotka declared the Czech Presidency a success: “The Czech Presidency was very dynamic, the meeting frequency of Visegrad group Prime Minister meetings was exceptionally high, with four Prime Ministerial summit meetings hosted over a period of 12 months. The dominant topic turned out to be the refugee crisis, but a series of long-term activities for the region were also covered. For example, the Visegrad group took a strong joint position on the Energy Union project and the energy security questions linked to it. We also dealt with the deepening of the single market and I also consider support for modern technology, digitisation and innovation to be a successful aspect of Visegrad collaboration.”

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, in addition to discussing the results of the culminating Czech Presidency and the programme for the upcoming Polish Presidency spoke mainly about the topics for the European Council session to be held from 28 to 29 June. The V4 Prime Ministers called for Great Britain to remain in the European Union, rejected a European Commission proposal for reform of the asylum system containing a redistribution mechanism on a mandatory and automatic basis and requested that the European Commission submit a proposal for an effective joint European solution to the market crisis in agricultural commodities, in particular milk and pork products. A further topic of the discussions was preparation for the NATO summit to take place 8‑9 July in Warsaw. The results of the meeting are summarised in the Joint Declaration adopted by the Prime Ministers. More information on /en/media-centrum/aktualne/declaration-of-the-visegrad-group-premiers-8-6-2016-145207/.

During the V4 summit the Prime Ministers signed a joint letter to European Commission Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker, in which they pointed out the difficult living conditions of more than 1.7 million people displaced within the Ukraine, who have fled their homes as a result of the armed conflict in the east of the country. The letter contains a proposal to develop a European programme whose objective will be to support the Ukrainian government in handling this situation, to help them integrate refugees in their new communities and prevent an increase in migration from the Ukraine to other countries. More information on /en/media-centrum/aktualne/v4-joint-letter-to-european-commission-chairman-jean-claude-juncker-145224/.