Prime minister weighs in on EU cohesion policy

Maintaining EU cohesion policy is a necessity which is supported by real figures and facts, stated Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) on Tuesday at a press conference in Prague. He was speaking on the occasion of the Friends of Cohesion group summit, following talks with partners from Visegrad Four countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). "Cohesion policy can't be decided on the basis of a political decision," said Pellegrini, pointing out that cohesion policy is there to "remove the gap between parts of the EU". Given the regional disparities that still exist between EU member states, he stressed, cohesion policy should continue until inequalities "are eliminated". The prime minister also reiterated Slovakia's position on postponing the start of EU accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia, marking the decision as a "big mistake" that could discourage people in these countries from supporting further reform efforts, and could eventually see their prospects in co-operation with powers such as Russia, China or Turkey.