‘Frank, open’ talks with EU’s Juncker over dinner: Polish deputy FM

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło and her Czech, Slovak and Hungarian counterparts met the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, in Brussels to discuss issues including an ongoing migration crisis and proposed changes to European Union rules governing so-called posted workers.

The four prime ministers had been invited for talks by Juncker ahead of a two-day EU summit that begins in Brussels on Thursday to address issues such as migration, defence, digitisation and the bloc’s exit negotiations with Britain.

Konrad Szymański, Poland’s deputy foreign minister in charge of European affairs, said late on Wednesday that the meeting over dinner with Juncker lasted more than two hours, longer than originally planned, and “made it possible to understand each other's positions.”

“This opens the way … and offers a chance to overcome a lot of tensions over political and economic interests,” Szymański said.

He added that the officials discussed topics that “have been dividing EU countries for a long time and which are important to Poland,” including Europe’s migration crisis and proposed new rules for “posted workers.”

The officials also discussed energy issues on Wednesday evening, according to Szymański. Poland has previously voiced criticism of what it says is the passivity of EU institutions amid Russia’s plans to build a second gas pipeline to Germany that would bypass Poland and other countries in the region.

Officials in Warsaw have lambasted the project saying it would increase the EU’s dependence on Russian gas. (gs/pk)

Source: IAR