Czech PM cold shoulders regional bank proposal

Outgoing Czech prime minister and ANO leader Andrej Babiš has opposed the idea of a regional development bank covering the Visegrad four countries, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

Ahead of a meeting of the Central European grouping on Friday in Budapest, Babiš said the main task of the Czech government was to deal with Czech banks.

Hungary and Poland have been the main backers of a regional development bank on the grounds that European Union funds for such a purpose are likely to dry up in the future. The Budapest meeting was also scheduled to discuss migration policy ahead of an EU meeting in Brussels next month.

Author: Chris Johnstone