We welcome discussion about the general EU reforms and we consider it very beneficial indeed. Prime Minister Robert Fico said that after meeting British Prime Minister David Cameron in Bratislava on Friday. The key points of their discussion included British proposals to reform the EU and Slovakia's stance towards initiatives proposed by the United Kingdom. According to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, the Slovak government fully supports the position of the British government regarding the increase of EU's competitiveness. "We shared the same opinion with the UK with regards to some people abusing the welfare system of the rich EU members. We are also in support of legitimacy of stronger position of national parliaments", said Robert Fico.
The Premier stated that despite the fact that Slovakia is a small country taking advantage of EU integration, it fully understands the stance of the Great Britain. Nevertheless, the Slovak Prime Minister underlined the need of 28 EU member states to hold such discussions "as opposed to merely bilateral talks held between the EU top players and the Great Britain". This agenda will be an important point of the Slovak EU presidency starting as of July 1, 2016. At that time, discussions regarding the UK's referendum about remaining in the EU will become a very serious topic in the Great Britain. David Cameron stated that the UK and Slovakia are strategic partners: "And I'm very grateful for the support that you have indicated on issues like increasing European competitiveness."
The British Prime Minister praised the bilateral trade relationship between the countries with British brands being major investors in Slovakia.
"We had a very useful discussion about our perspectives on how we should have a comprehensive approach to the migrant crisis in Mediterranean and how we need to do more to stabilise the countries from which these people are coming." The Prime Ministers agreed that compulsory quotas do not solve the problem. The bilateral talks also included the issue of Greek debt, the crisis in Ukraine as well as combating VAT fraud in Slovakia with the help of British technology.
As part of his visit to Bratislava, David Cameron also addressed the GLOBSEC security forum which is among the 5 most important events of its kind in the world.
