Slovakia wants to lead over the final stage of talks on the European budget during its presidency of the Visegrad Four countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). Peter Pellegrini, Slovak vice-premier for Investments and Informatisation (Smer-SD nominee), who introduced this goal last week also said that "Slovakia is ready to take the initiative and resolutely promote the joint V4 vision within the EU regarding the future of Euro funds". Slovakia is scheduled to take over the one-year-long V4 Presidency as of July 1, 2018.
These words came after a meeting in Budapest in which the ministers responsible for solidarity policies from the Visegrad Four and their counterparts from Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria took part. The ministers agreed that the use of European Funds to reduce disparity between countries and regions must also continue in the post-2020 period. They also passed a joint statement supporting solidarity policies as one of the priorities of the next European budget.
"They agreed that all regions should continue to enjoy the option to use financial resources allocated under this EU policy, with the rate of co-financing due to be maintained at its current level," said Pellegrini, adding that the solidarity policy could be simplified by harmonising the rules that govern funds and other tools of aid as well as by streamlining supervisory mechanisms.
Representatives of the V4 countries also held talks with the European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, and the European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources, Gunther Oettinger.
