Bratislava, May 18 (CTK) – The idea of a two-speed European Union might divide Europe into small clubs, which would be bad, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said at the Globsec security conference in Bratislava on Friday.
Babis said he does not like the concept of a two-speed Europe at all.
This concept would be acceptable only if all the member states had an opportunity to take part in it, irrespective of their participation in projects of narrow cooperation, and if it did not violate the common market, he said.
No member state should be excluded from the process of creating and approving decisions concerning the common market, Babis said.
He said he cannot understand how the two-speed EU was measured.
Babis said Czechs were not part of the euro zone and believed that a euro zone reform was needed. At the moment, the euro zone countries do not have higher speed that the EU countries outside of the euro zone, he added.
Despite a shared history, Europe has always been full of differences and these differences become evident in the debate on a shared future, Babis said, adding that this leads to differentiated integration.
He said he considered the next budget framework and migration to be priorities for the EU.
Babis said it is the member states that should have the main say in the EU, not the European Commission.
He said he hoped the EC would turn into a primarily service institution for the member countries after the next European elections.
Europe must fight for free movement of goods, people, services and capital, he said.
Babis said the West Balkan countries should be helped to adopt reforms and enter the EU. Unless these Balkan countries join the EU, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others were waiting for them, he added.
The participants in the three-day Globsec conference include NATO Assistant Secretary General Tacan Ildem, OECD Secretary General Mar Kiviniemi, Slovak President Andrej Kiska and EC Vice President Maros Sefcovic.
