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EU must work out careful response to Brexit: Merkel at V4 meeting

Xinhua, August 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

The European Union (EU) should focus on common issues and work out a careful response to Brexit, while also considering security and economic growth, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Visegrad Group (V4) leaders said Friday.

The meeting is designed to prepare an informal summit of 27 EU members in Bratislava on Sept. 16, set to discuss Brexit, in Warsaw, Polish Press Agency reported.

"The summit in Bratislava is planned as a beginning of a long-term process. We hope that in Bratislava we will be able to define the current condition of the EU and to show areas which should be in the focus of future meetings," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

Merkel agreed with Fico that Bratislava would not be a summit of decisions but will mark the beginning of work, noting that security would surely be in the focus.

Merkel said all 27 EU members had to draw conclusions from Britain's decision to depart from the EU and find out in which areas the EU needed to be stronger.

According to her, the EU should focus on common issues and work out a careful response to Brexit.

Merkel admitted that economic issues were of great significance since "people would accept Europe only when the EU secured their prosperity."

Addressing the conference, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo stressed that Brexit would result in changes the EU had to cope with.

"We want other EU member countries which want to build our common future to be more strongly united and to cooperate more closely," Szydlo said, stressing that the EU "should seek projects which unite us instead of dividing us."

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka expressed his hope that the Visegrad Group would adopt its joint priorities before the Bratislava summit, stressing that Europe needed better cooperation in defense and security policy, with a special emphasis on the protection of the EU's external borders.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Britain's departure from the EU resulted from the current state of Europe.

According to Orban, the EU was facing two main problems, namely the lack of adaptation abilities in difficult situations such as the financial crisis, terrorist threats, migration or the crisis in Ukraine, and the non-observance of regulations regarding the Schengen zone and budgetary issues.

Merkel started her Warsaw visit on Friday with a meeting with Szydlo.

The German chancellor also held talks with prime ministers of the regional Visegrad Group, namely the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Endit