Central European countries call on EU to reform after Brexit vote

Warsaw (dpa) - Britain‘s recent vote to leave the European Union has sent a clear signal that the bloc needs to be reformed and respect the decisions of its sovereign member states, leaders of the Visegrad Group of Central European countries said Thursday."The EU has to return to its roots. It has to deal more with the concerns of its citizens and less with those of its institutions," Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said after a meeting of the group.Poland in July took over the rotating presidency of Visegrad Group, which also includes the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The four countries were meeting to prepare for a special EU summit to be held in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava in September."With Britain leaving, the EU has lost its role as a global player," Hungary‘s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.He blamed the Brexit vote on the EU‘s migration policy: "This is why we have lost the United Kingdom."The four EU member states strictly oppose Brussels‘ plans to impose a permanent redistribution of asylum seekers in Europe and want to drastically reduce the rate of arrivals to the continent."The aim of our refugee policy is to stop migration," Orban said. Those wishing to immigrate to Europe should file their asylum application from centres outside the EU‘s external border and stay there until they are accepted by an EU country, he added.