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EU reform must meet expectations of all member states: Polish PM

PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki 13.10.2017 16:00
Reforms of the European Union must meet the expectations of all member states and cannot be tailored to the demands of only one group of countries, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło said on Friday.
Polish PM Beata Szydło (left), the Czech Republic's Bohuslav Sobotka, Slovakia's Robert Fico and Hungary's Victor Orban during a joint press conference in Bratislava on Friday. Photo: PAP/Rafał GuzPolish PM Beata Szydło (left), the Czech Republic's Bohuslav Sobotka, Slovakia's Robert Fico and Hungary's Victor Orban during a joint press conference in Bratislava on Friday. Photo: PAP/Rafał Guz

Speaking at a press conference in the Slovak capital Bratislava, Szydło said that Europe's development must be based on solidarity and unity.

She added that “the diversity of the EU’s individual member states is an asset that strengthens and not weakens Europe.”

She cautioned against attempts to divide the bloc into “narrow groups,” which she said was a mistake that could “lead to a breakup.”

Reform of the EU "cannot be based on gearing our common European Union to the expectations of only one group of states,” Szydło told reporters.

In particular, she said, "the principles of the EU market cannot be dictated by countries which are losing competitiveness because of a lack of structural labour market reforms."

"A reformed EU must meet the expectations of all to the same extent," she argued.

Szydło was in Bratislava to meet her counterparts from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, which together with Poland form a regional cooperation platform known as the Visegrad Group (V4).

Szydło said that Poland and its Visegrad Group partners had a "clear and unified" position on the future of the EU and that the Bratislava meeting was an opportunity for the four prime ministers to discuss important issues ahead of next week's meeting of EU heads of government in Brussels. (gs/pk)

Source: PAP

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