Press Advisories

27. 7. 201719:51

Comment by the Prime Minister on further tackling the problem of dual food quality

I welcomed a lot the results of today’s dealing talk with Prime Minister Robert Fico and the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker. Dual food quality is a demonstrable and serious problem that the EU has to address and I am very glad that, after the repeated demands by the Visegrad Group, the Board of the European Commission also recognised that it needs to be addressed. Prime Minister Fico has informed us on his today’s visit to Brussels already in advance during the Budapest V4 meeting and has been given a mandate from me and my colleagues from Hungary and Poland to interpret the common position of the Visegrad Group on this issue.

Today’s words by the President of the European Commission, Mr. Juncker, show that the strong pressure from V4 is successful and that repeated initiatives in the EU are delivering results. Dual food quality in the common market is unacceptable for the Czech Republic and other V4 countries. This problem discriminates against our citizens, threatens their confidence in European integration and makes them the second category consumers. In the European Union, there must be one quality of food for all, and the highest. The European Commission and the EU have the only option to solve this situation systemically. We will continue to do that and today's words of Jean-Claude Juncker are seen as a commitment from the highest point of the European Commission to come up with real and effective solutions.

Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic