Hungary’s boycott of the Visegrad Group (V4) talks due to its pro-Russian stance has caused tension between the Czech parliament and the government in Prague, Euractiv reports.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala plans to attend a meeting of the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland on November 24 in Bratislava to discuss Germany’s controversial plan to inject 200 billion euros into the economy to ease the effects of the energy crisis. on the population and industry of the country.

The plan has also been sharply criticized by France, as well as other European states, which believe the measures will give German companies an uncompetitive advantage over their domestic rivals.

“We prefer a common approach and uniform rules, because in the competition between national budgets we definitely won’t be the first, and we won’t be able to,” Petr Fiala told the Seznam Zprávy daily.

But by deciding to participate in the meeting of the V4 group in Bratislava, Fiala distanced himself from the leaders of the Czech parliament, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, the head of the Chamber of Deputies, and Miloš Vystrčil, the president of the Senate, refusing to sit at the same table with the leader of the parliament from Budapest.

Their decision forced hosts Slovakia to cancel the match.

Vystrčil is a member of the Civic Democratic Party, a moderately Eurosceptic party led by Fiala, while Adamova leads the junior partner in the ruling coalition in Prague, the strongly pro-European liberal-conservative TOP09 party.

According to the sources of Seznam Zprávy, the leaders of the two chambers of the Polish Parliament would also not come to the meeting organized in Bratislava.

Hungary condemns the decision taken by the leadership of the Czech Parliament

The head of the unicameral parliament of Hungary, László Kever, expressed his regret about the “postponement” of the meeting, noting that “the statements of the leaders of the Czech parliament about our country are false, disrespectful, do not correspond to the facts and call into question the right of the Hungarian government to form its policy in accordance with the national interests of Hungary “.

The new dispute is further evidence that Viktor Orbán’s government’s approach to the war in Ukraine, and particularly its continued economic cooperation with Moscow, is divisive within the Visegrad Group, known for its historically close relationship since the fall of the Iron Curtain.

At the end of March, the meeting of the defense ministers of the four countries, which was supposed to take place in Budapest, was canceled due to the fact that representatives of Poland and the Czech Republic refused to come to the meeting as a sign of protest against Hungary.

“I think it’s no secret that Hungary has a different approach than the other 3 V4 countries. But, and this is important, our dialogue forced Hungary to support all the key decisions in negotiations with the EU at the moment,” Pyotr Fiala emphasized.

For him, the meeting in Bratislava will be the first high-level meeting of the V4 group after taking office last November.

“I will not go into these discussions with prejudices. It’s important to talk to each other,” the Czech prime minister added, adding that group meetings “have certainly proven to be a valuable format in the past.”

Follow the latest events of the 268th day of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.