Following a summit of leaders from V4 countries and Austria held in Prague, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the V4 countries are “signaling to the outside world” their aim to seek cooperation with other European countries and to avoid isolation.
According to MTI, PM Orbán called on Czech counterpart Andrej Babis, the current holder of the V4 presidency, to invite western Balkan countries seeking EU membership to a conference on Europe’s future as this would concern those countries as well.
The prime minister said the V4 stood united against any diversion of cohesion funding to finance new climate protection goals. “If we want more Europe, we need more money, but not at the expense of old programs,” he said.
PM Orbán added that Austria is a "natural partner" of Hungary and the Visegrad Group, and they can cooperate in many areas.
The prime minister said as an investor and trading partner, Austria is important for central Europe. “It will also remain an important security partner for us in future because it is in the same shoes as us on the issue of migration,” he added.
PM Orbán said if migrants “break into” Austria through Hungary, they will either end up staying there or will travel on to Germany, adding that Hungarian border protection was therefore in Austria’s interest.
Wrapping things up, the prime minister said the summit’s major achievement was to identify areas of cooperation that include migration, security, border protection, competitiveness, climate protection and EU enlargement. The areas of “non-cooperation” have also been defined, one of which is nuclear energy, he added.
Photo credit: MTI