Warsaw, Aug 26 (CTK special correspondent) – Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka expects Britain’s official announcement on its exit from the EU at the end of the year, he said at the summit of the Visegrad Group (V4) or the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia today.
Today’s meeting of the V4 prime ministers with German Chancellor Angela Merkel present has proved that security in Europe is a priority issue, Sobotka said, describing the meeting as quick, open and useful.
“It has been confirmed that security is an issue resonating in Europe as number one. Not only within V4, but also in Germany,” Sobotka said.
He welcomed it that his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban supported his proposal for opening the joint European military issue.
Sobotka also presented the issue of the EU outer border protection, the enforcement of joint rules and the aid to afflicted countries with the Schengen border protection.
Another topic of the meeting was reducing differences in the EU countries’ living standards, which Sobotka considers one of the reasons for Brexit.
Sobotka pushed for the preservation of the EU supportive funds even after Britain’s future exit from the EU.
“Britons should announce at the end of this year and the beginning of next year that they are leaving the EU, they should not be lingering very much,” Sobotka pointed out.
The V4 prime ministers met in Warsaw to prepare for the EU informal summit to be held in Bratislava in September.
Slovakia, which is holding the rotating six-month EU presidency now, will host the summit where representatives of the 27 EU member states, that is without Britain, will discuss further developments of the Union after the planned Brexit.
Merkel said today though no decisions would be made at the Bratislava summit, this meeting would lay foundations for further decision-making.
