Prague, Jan 3 (CTK) – Czech PM Andrej Babis will meet EC head Jean-Claude Juncker on January 29, he said on Wednesday, adding that by Friday, ministers will inform him on the EU-related affairs their ministries are dealing with, and that the cabinet will prepare a strategy for Prague not to be outvoted on migrant quotas.
Babis (ANO) said he will have talks with Juncker at a joint dinner at the end of January.
He envisaged a plan to meet Juncker at the EU summit in December already.
He said then that their debate should not focus on migration only, though he put an emphasis on the issue at the summit and clearly rejected the system of migrant redistribution quotas.
“If a situation repeated, where we would be outvoted again, it would threaten the European project as such,” Babis said in Brussels in December.
He alluded to the autumn of 2015 when the EU approved a system of temporary migrant quotas, outvoting the Czechs and other critics.
Babis declined to elaborate saying that he believes such a situation would not occur.
On Wednesday, Babis said his cabinet, appointed in mid-December, also discussed two foreign trips he will make before meeting Juncker.
On Friday, he will visit Slovakia, accompanied by Defence Minister Karla Slechtova and Finance Minister Alena Schillerova (both for ANO).
According to a document of the Czech Foreign Ministry, Babis and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico are to discuss the celebrations of the important anniversaries to be marked in 2018, such as the centenary of the birth of Czechoslovakia, and also current foreign political affairs.
One week before going to Brussels, Babis will pay a visit to Bulgaria, which is presiding the EU now, accompanied by Transport Minister Dan Tok (for ANO).
