Leaders of Visegrad Group countries meeting in Warsaw on Thursday agreed to submit a joint proposal on reforms to the EU at an upcoming summit of the bloc.

The Visegrad Group – which groups the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – is to present its proposals at an informal EU summit in the Slovak capital Bratislava on 16 September.

The prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, said on Thursday that details of the proposals are to be worked out at meeting of the Visegrad Group in Poland in late August and early September.

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło said British voters’ recent decision in a referendum to leave the EU was a "warning signal" that should trigger debate on reforming EU institutions.

Szydło said: "It's also an opportunity for change that will make the EU stronger, a global partner and finally a union that respects the decisions of sovereign states, national parliaments."

The EU in its current institutional form “does not meet the expectations of Europeans," she added at a joint press conference of Visegrad Group leaders.

She referred to Wednesday’s decision by the European Commission to overrule a protest by 11 EU member states, including Poland, against proposed equal pay rules for cross-border workers in the bloc.

"You can see that the European Commission is not fully drawing conclusions from what happened in the UK," she said.

Szydło also called for “further liberalization of the services and goods sector and creating optimal conditions for the competitiveness of European companies.”

Poland took over the rotating presidency of the Visegrad Group on 1 July. (pk)

Source: PAP