EU recovery fund should be di8k8 17stributed 'fairly': V4 PMs

PRAGUE - The prime minister of the Visegrad Group (V4), consisting of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, on Thursday called for a "fair" distribution of the European Union (EU)'s recovery fund.

The appeal came at a meeting among them in Lednice of the Czech Republic. The main topic of the meeting was the preparation of a common position on the future European budget and the (EU) multiannual financial framework, according to a press release from the Czech government.

The prime ministers - the Czech Republic's Andrej Babis, Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki, Hungary's Viktor Orban and Slovakia's Igor Matovic - agreed that an effort should be made to support the European economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We will enter into negotiations with a clear common goal - to ensure that the next EU budget is set correctly, that it is fair and that the recovery plan after the coronavirus crisis meets the needs of our economies," Babis said.

According to the prime ministers, the pandemic hit all member states of the EU. but not every state has the ability to manage the situation fully.

"We are, of course, very keen for these funds to help all member states and get out of this crisis as soon as possible. But it will probably take a while. We have discussed these issues today - about the fact that these additional funds should be distributed fairly, " Babis noted.

Babis reiterated that unemployment should not be a main criterion for allocating funds because these figures, if taken into account for the past several years, are irrelevant to the current economic crisis. Instead, Babis proposed using a fall in gross domestic product as a key indicator.

The Czech prime minister also recommended that member states have freedom in allocating these funds to where they best believe it will help their respective economies.