Building a better Europe common task, says Finnish PM Rinne in Budapest

Building a better Europe is a common task, Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne said on Monday after meeting Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán in Budapest.

He told a joint press conference that he had discussed with Orbán the tasks of Finland’s European Union presidency, including EU enlargement, Brexit and the budget.

He said he believed that measures against climate change and observing the principles of constitutionality must be preconditions for getting access to European Union funding. Commenting on the latter, he said a well-balanced and legally clear method was needed.

Regarding EU enlargement, he said

Finland would like to see a decision made at October’s EU summit about the start of talks with Albania and North Macedonia.

A convincing perspective should be offered to the Western Balkans if reforms progress as needed, and constitutionality is also an important precondition, he added.

Commenting on Brexit, he said there were great differences in opinion among EU member states. Britain’s exit will hopefully happen in line with a deal but there is not much time left for talks, he added.