Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with the Visegrad Group prime ministers and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Bratislava on Thursday.
PM Orbán highlighted that no major EU decisions should be made before the European parliamentary elections “when European citizens will make their choice”.
The prime minister said cooperation between the Visegrad Four and Germany must continue after the EP elections in May. He added that the talks were characterized by “a positive and sincere tone.”
PM Orbán said participants in the meeting had been the EU’s “core states”, countries that “stand out with their performance”.
The prime minister pointed out that based on their public debt, budget deficit, exports, unemployment rate and structural reforms, they constitute Europe’s core states and, complemented by Germany, the economic engine of Europe.
PM Orbán said participants in the meeting agreed on the need for a strong Europe and pledged to cooperate to that end. The European Union “will not be the same as it was before” once the elections have taken place, he said.
According to MTI, the prime minister insisted that “we want a democratic EU” and added that “its character and directions will be decided upon by the people”.
“We can discuss whether democracy should be liberal, illiberal or Christian, but the people cannot be omitted from its formula,” PM Orbán said, and argued that “should we neglect the will of European citizens, we would not be building a European Union but an empire and would go back to where we started off 30 years ago when we revolted against having to act on instructions from that empire’s headquarters.”