Prague, June 27 (CTK) – The Czech government approved on Monday the creation of a new working group to prepare the Czech position and priorities for the negotiations with Britain about its exit from the European Union, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka (Social Democrats, CSSD) has written on Twitter.
The group will be headed by European Affairs State Secretary Tomas Prouza, government spokesman Martin Ayrer said.
The government also approved a mandate for Sobotka at the EU summit on last Thursday’s referendum in which Britons decided to leave the EU, to be held in Brussels on the days to come.
The working group will be comprised of representatives of ministries and economic and social partners.
“The Czech Republic must defend its national interests. One of our important goals will be to maintain equal conditions on the British labour market for Czech citizens, or such as are enjoyed by Britons in the Czech Republic. The working group should also define the Czech priorities for the future shape of the EU, including proposals for reforms which the Union must undergo,” Sobotka said.
The Czech government expects Britain to announce its intention to leave the EU after a new government is formed this autumn.
Sobotka will hold consultations on the position and priorities which the working group will propose across the political spectrum. It wants to invite to the debate the chairpersons of all political parties in parliament.
Brexit was discussed in Prague by the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, which form the Visegrad Four, and of France and Germany.
They concluded that overhasty integration and pretending as if nothing has happened would be a bad reaction to the situation after Brexit.
