Ostrava, North Moravia, June 23 (CTK) – Ministers and government officials from the Visegrad Four (V4) states together with representatives of Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia backed Britain’s remaining in the EU at their meeting in Ostrava yesterday, Czech Regional Development Minister Karla Slechtova said.
Apart from the Czech Republic, the V4 includes Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.
Slechtova (ANO) told CTK that Brexit was the first topic on the agenda of the meeting at which mainly European funds were discussed.
“We, representatives of eight countries, have unambiguously agreed that we support Great Britain’s remaining in the EU. At the same time, we agreed that it [the EU] need not be the same any more, whatever the referendum result yesterday,” Slechtova said.
If the referendum supports Britain’s remaining in the EU very narrowly, the British who want Brexit can be expected to continue their efforts, Slechtova said,
The Ostrava meeting’s debate otherwise focused on the European funds and possible changes to facilitate the drawing of money from the funds.
Slechtova said the EC should respect member countries’ comments on the European funds system.
In the budget period of 2014-2020, the EC largely decides where the EU money should go, and its decisions often do not correspond to the Czech Republic’s needs, Slechtova said.
