Orbán holds talks with Czech PM Sobotka

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Tuesday held talks with his Czech counterpart Bohuslav Sobotka on matters concerning Hungary and the Czech Republic.

The premiers of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia were in Budapest on Tuesday to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Speaking to reporters after his talks with Orbán, Sobotka said that they had discussed the future workings of the Visegrad Four group. Sobotka said the V4 are convinced that their form of regional cooperation “has a bright future” and its members have to keep searching for further ways to boost economic cooperation among them. The prime minister named the pursuit of export-oriented joint efforts in third markets as one way the V4 could further deepen their economic ties.

Sobotka called the Egyptian government’s stance on illegal migration and its efforts to look after illegal migrants in Egypt “exemplary”, adding that Egypt would need further support from the European Union in order to keep up its handling of the migrant situation.

On the subject of Europe’s security situation and the issue of illegal migration, he said the majority of migrants looking to enter Europe via the southern migration route were “economic migrants”. Sobotka said there “isn’t much of a point” in implementing the EU’s migrant quota scheme in central Europe, adding that neither the Czech Republic, nor Hungary nor Poland plan to change their position on migration. He said the three countries, against whom the European Commission has launched infringement procedures over the issue of migrant distribution quotas, would present “clear arguments” to the EC on the issue. He added that Slovakia assured the three countries of its political support.

Sobotka said he and Orbán had also discussed opportunities in defence industry cooperation. The Czech Republic is interested in having Czech companies participate in Hungarian defence projects, he said.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI