V4 leaders meet in Hungary ahead of EU's next summit

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met here with his colleagues of the Visegrad Four, or V4 countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia), ahead of next week's EU summit, according to the Press service of Orban.

"Viktor Orban Hungarian, Peter Pellegrini Slovakian, Andrej Babis Czech and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki discussed the responsibility of the Central European countries for the future of the continent, the selection process for the new EU officials and the program of the forthcoming Czech V4 presidency," Bertalan Havasi, Press officer of the Orban, said here on Thursday.

He added: "At the informal meeting, the heads of government agreed that V4 cooperation would play a decisive role in shaping Europe's future. The leaders of the Visegrad countries are aware of their responsibilities and are therefore actively involved in debates on the European Union, including personal matters."

Havasi also said that at the next EU summit, the V4 countries would "speak with one voice" in terms of the elected-to-be leaders and other key issues.

The Visegrad countries will support candidates for senior positions in the European Union who have appropriate experience and are well prepared and have a respect for Central European peoples as well as the V4 cooperation, according to Havasi.

"There is therefore an explicit expectation that Central European considerations and interests should always be taken into account when making joint European decisions," Havasi concluded.

EU leaders will meet in Brussels to take the relevant decisions on appointments for the next institutional cycle and to adopt the EU's strategic agenda for 2019-2024. The strategic agenda will be used to plan the work of the European Council, and will provide the basis for the work programs of the other EU institutions.

They will also revert to the issue of the 2021-2027 multi-annual financial framework (MFF).

The European Council will also discuss climate change ahead of the United Nations Secretary-General's Climate Action Summit on Sept. 23, 2019.

Finally, in the context of the European semester, the European Council will also discuss the country-specific recommendations.