Prague, Oct 6 (CTK) – Britain’s decision to leave the EU has resulted in a situation where foreigners living in Britain are becoming a target of attacks, Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka told CTK on Thursday, adding that this mistake must not repeat elsewhere in the EU if it is not to split due to hatred and nationalism.
Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) said negotiations about the form of relations between London and the rest of the EU will be tough.
It will be necessary to protect the interests of Czech citizens living in Britain and simultaneously to prevent Britain from moving too far away from the EU, Sobotka said in the interview with CTK.
Sobotka mentioned two incidents in the past months when a Czech man was murdered in London in September and a crowd killed a Pole in Harlow in August.
“Now, we can see the very unpleasant face of British nationalism, which was strongly boosted by the Brexit result. This indicates how Europe might look like once if we, God forbid, did not manage to keep the European Union together. National animosities and hatred would start splitting us,” Sobotka said.
He also said the negotiations between the EU and the Czech Republic to be launched next year were likely to be hard and that London might not be willing to make concessions.
“It will be a certain dilemma to negotiate an agreement to protect our employees in Britain, and at the same time, not to let Britain move away too much,” Sobotka said.
It is in the interest of the Czech Republic to preserve close relations with London, he added.
Brexit is also an opportunity for the other EU countries to take over a part of the investments that would be heading for Britain otherwise, he said.
“But there will be a negative consequence as well. Within the EU, Britain, often in cooperation with the Visegrad Four, opposed protectionism and supported the preservation of the European single market. We will miss Britain in this respect,” Sobotka told CTK.
The Visegrad Four Group (V4), comprised of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, will still be a good platform to push through Czech interests within the EU, Sobotka said.
However, this is not the only form of cooperation the Czech Republic applies in the Union, he pointed out.
“Our policy has always focused on the effort to have good relations and friends in Europe,” he added.
In this connection, he highlighted a strategic dialogue with the neighbouring Germany.
Sobotka rejected some statements by Western politicians saying the V4 was standing up against the EU. “The V4 has never worked and never will work as a tool to break up the European Union,” he said.
