EU recovery funds must be distributed fairly: Visegrad Group

The EU recovery funds must be distributed fairly among EU member states and the poorer countries which observed fiscal discipline before the coronavirus crisis should not be placed at a disadvantage, the prime ministers of the Visegrad states agreed at their summit in Lednice, south Moravia on Thursday.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said the main criterion for the distribution of the roughly 750 billion euros (20 trillion crowns) should be the decline in gross domestic product of individual countries as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

The Czech prime minister said he expected a lengthy debate on the issue, adding that it was too early to say how the money from the reconstruction fund should be distributed, because it is not yet clear to what extent the economies of individual member states will be affected by the pandemic.

The V4 met to coordinate their position on the proposed EU recovery plan ahead of a meeting of the European Council, due to take place next week.

While Poland and Slovakia responded positively to the recovery plan outlined, the Czech Republic and Hungary have been more critical of the fact that it favours richer countries prone to racking up excessive debt.

The recovery plan is due to be debated at a video-conference of the European Council on June 19th.

Credit: Radio.cz