Brussels, June 28 (CTK) – The Visegrad Group (V4) countries on Tuesday expressed a deep regret at Britain’s decision to leave the EU, their prime ministers have said in a press release.
The EU will continue in the cooperation of 27 membership countries.
The forthcoming talks about Britain’s departure from the EU must not result in the worse position of EU citizens and companies than of British citizens and their companies, the V4 said in a press release.
Now it is necessary to create a really trustworthy EU, they added.
Britain has chosen a different future than the one in the European bloc, but one has to respect London’s sovereign decision, the press release said.
“The Visegrad group countries strongly insist on the forthcoming talks being focused on the protection of EU interests. The citizens of Europe and European companies must not eventually be in a worse position than British citizens and British companies,” it added.
“The final arrangement of the relations between the EU and Britain must be based on reciprocity and be fair for both sides,” the press release said.
“The EU must go out of the challenge stronger. We have to focus our attention on the smooth process of exit and on the negotiated new agreement with Britain as well as European reform agenda,” it added.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met to harmonise their positions before a meeting of the European Council in Brussels in the afternoon.
They agreed on the need to renew the EU and to revive the trust in European integration and institutions.
Sobotka said President of the European Council Donald Tusk’s choice of Bratislava as the venue of an informal EU summit in September was a logical proposal.
“It will be a signal of strengthening of the EU cohesion. This will be a summit separated from the regular meetings we have in Brussels,” Sobotka said.
The meeting should generate a joint statement of 27 EU countries that they wanted to continue with the European project, but in the direction of more flexibility and efficiency, Sobotka said.
