Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia Reject Migrant Quotas

The leaders of the Visegrád Four (V4) countries of Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Poland stressed that they must work together to become a winner in a world transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The political bloc needs investments to succeed and, therefore, will not support tax increases, said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán after the meeting of the prime ministers of the V4 in Katowice on Wednesday.

Hungary now takes over the annual presidency from Poland.

Orbán also identified the rejection of the possible compulsory EU quotas on redistribution of migrants and the integration of the Western Balkans countries into the EU as soon as possible priorities of the Hungarian presidency of the V4.

“We discussed the strategy on migration in detail. This topic is part of the future of Europe. The Schengen and Western Balkans strategies are also connected with that. The EU’s internal market, which is not working, is also very important. We are still failing in removing obstacles for our companies,” said Prime Minister Andrej Babiš after the meeting.

He named V4 support for nuclear energy as another topic of discussion.

“We are in a good position. It is great that Slovenia will take over the EU presidency. It is a great opportunity to declare our common views,” Babiš noted.

The Czech prime minister also thanked the V4 partners for solidarity after the last week’s tornado in South Moravia.

“We appreciate it very much,” stressed Babiš.