Press Advisories

21. 6. 201820:34

V4 prime ministers and the Austrian Chancellor discussed migration and EU budget

Premier Andrej Babiš met on Thursday, 21 June 2018, with premiers of Hungary, Poland and Slovakia at a summit of Visegrad Group countries in Budapest. The main themes of the summit were migration and a reform of the common asylum system, the future EU budget and preparation of the June European Council meeting. The second part of the V4 summit was attended by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

The meeting of the V4 premiers was dominated by the theme of migration, in connection with the current events in the Mediterranean Sea. The prime ministers also agreed that the main decision about the next steps in migration policy must arise from the meeting of the European Council next week in Brussels.

“The opinion of the Visegrad Group on the next development in the European migration policy is clear – the form of the policy must be decided by all Member States at the European Council. At the same time, we welcome that our position has been supported by the Austrian Chancellor, with whom we signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the protection of borders in the Western Balkan countries,” said Premier Andrej Babiš.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz presented to V4 premiers the programme of the Austrian Presidency in the EU Council, which the country will take up in July.

Another topic of the summit was the future EU budget. The Czech Premier emphasised in this context that for the Czech Republic, it is essential that the next budget maintains sufficient volume of funding for cohesion and agricultural policy. “The Czech Republic is in an excellent economic condition, we don’t need money to fight unemployment, we need to build bridges and roads. Therefore, I told my colleagues from V4 and the Austrian Chancellor that we would advocate for Member States to have a greater power over the focus of the funding on national priorities and over its distribution to the different regions,” said Czech Prime Minister. The V4 premiers and Chancellor Kurz supported Andrej Babiš in the issue of greater flexibility in the cohesion.

The Thursday summit was the last under the lead of Hungarian presidency. In July, the V4 presidency will be taken up by Slovakia.