Merkel said many security projects have been neglected, like registering travelers into and out of the visa-free Schengen zone.
Advertisement
She added: “I think we can overcome Britain’s decision [to leave]”.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke in Warsaw before heading into talks on EU’s future with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders of three other central European nations. “But we have to work hard to do that”.
Merkel was meeting the prime ministers of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia ahead of an European Union summit planned in Bratislava, Slovakia, next month – without Britain – that is to discuss issues stemming from Britain’s vote to leave the group.
Merkel said she fully shares the views of her colleague.
Sobotka said more European security and defence cooperation, in addition to the existing partnership in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, was a priority given the need to protect external EU borders and respond to growing security threats from places such as the Middle East.
The German branch of the anti-mass migration Identitarian youth movement occupied the iconic Brandenburg gate to slam the migrant policies of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Some in the Visegrad group think that Germany pushed too hard for the mandatory refugee relocation scheme without taking into consideration the national sensibilities of member states.
“Brexit is not just an event like any other – it’s a turning-point in the EU’s history, so we have to frame a careful response”, Merkel said. Citizens will only accept the European Union if it makes it possible for them to prosper.
A man in a black Mercedes yesterday “attempted to join the motorcade as it moved between Prague airport and Czech government headquarters”, police spokesman Jozef Bocan said, adding that the suspect was in police custody and Merkel “had not been in danger”.
In the ZDF interview, Gabriel also criticized Merkel’s catchphrase “Wir schaffen das”, meaning “We can do this”, which she adopted during the migrant crisis last summer and has repeatedly used since.
Later on Friday, Merkel will meet in Germany with a mostly nordic group that includes the prime ministers of Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, as well as the Netherlands.
Advertisement
The tour is part of her new attempt to be seen as a “listener” and to dispel the image of Berlin trying to impose policies on the rest of the bloc.
