Visegrad states react according to script to EU summit's calls for reform

Visegrad states react according to script to EU summit's calls for reform
In what was seen as a clear reference to the four Visegrad states, President Macron slammed member states that treat the bloc “like a supermarket” in which they can choose which parts to take or leave. / Photo: CC
By bne IntelliNews June 26, 2017

Predictably divergent messages emerged from the Visegrad delegations at the EU summit on June 23 in response to efforts to reform the bloc.

The reactions of the Visegrad Four to the tough challenge put down by French President Emmanuel Macron – the poster boy of an EU finding its mojo - followed the script the Central European countries have written throughout the populist challenge of the past couple of years. While the Eurosceptic Poles and Hungarians were scathing of Macron’s efforts to kickstart reform of the bloc, the Czechs and Slovaks, who have played a far less confrontational role, were more sober.

The French president has raised hackles in Central Europe since his election, having called for more robust action against member states that flout EU standards of democracy and rule of law. In an interview ahead of a meeting with the V4, he slammed member states that treat the bloc “like a supermarket” in which they can choose which parts to take or leave. Macron reiterated the criticism at the meeting, leaving little doubt to whom he had been referring, while reports claim he also told the Visegrad states plainly that sanctions could follow.

The French leader has accused the V4 of defying Europe’s principles and values by rejecting migrant quotas. The European Commission opened infringement procedures against the Czechs, Hungarians and Poles on the issue on June. He has also angered the four states by pushing for reform that would end the use of posted workers, which allows the use of cheaper workers from lower income countries in richer states.

The issue of wages is a hot one in Visegrad right now, with the region struggling with a severe labour shortage. Politicians from around Central Europe have been calling for foreign investors to raise wages, instead of shipping so much profit back home.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, who is facing a tough fight ahead of elections in October, tapped that issue in the meeting with Macron.

"I have urged the French president, given that French companies are major investors in the V4 region and the Czech Republic, that these companies should implement a faster increase in wages," Sobotka said after the meeting, according to Hospodarske noviny.

However, he also offered balance."Macron came with the offer of dialogue," the Czech PM noted. The French president is correct to have an interest in debate with V4 countries he added.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico exhibited a similar effort to balance his words. "It's good that we've agreed with Macron on regular meetings, perhaps ahead of every EU summit,” he said according to TASR.

He called the meeting an encounter of two different worlds, but said that it was beneficial to listen to each other and present factual arguments, even though there were also some "spicy" comments towards the end regarding the French president’s claim that the V4 is seeking to take only the benefits of EU membership, while avoiding the responsabilities.

On the other side of the equation, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban stuck to his favoured topic of migrants. He claimed to Macron that France has been forced to introduce a state of emergency due to immigration issues (in fact because of terrorism), and noted that Hungary has not. 

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo is also a keen proponent of linking refugees with terrorism. She asked whether the French president wanted to flaunt his prejudice against Central European states in the media or have a rational debate. She accused Macron of “stereotyped and negative comments about Eastern Europe”.

However, the fight with Macron runs deeper than perhaps even those involved realise. As is being illustrated in Slovakia with a strike at Volkswagen and threats of industrial action across Central Europe, the Visegrad region is watching the economic model it has followed for the last 25 years or so fade. Deteriorating demographics only exasperate the pressures created by growing convergence. The push for a multi-speed EU is a new, and alarming, pressure for leaders in Central Europe.

The countries of the region have relied on cheap labour and favourable taxes since the fall of communism to attract FDI. Macron’s calls for harmonized tax across the union and the prevention of the export of cheap labour only adds to the threat offered by the growing labour shortage in Central Europe.

Pressure is growing on the model from both sides. However, the persisting populist challenge in the region makes reforms to raise innovation and fill exports with greater added value even more unappealing than they would normally be for politicians when compared to bashing foreign investors and the EU.

 

News

Dismiss