BRUSSELS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron is meeting with central and eastern European leaders amid tensions over jobs and resistance to taking in refugees.
The meeting Friday on the sidelines of an EU summit in Brussels is hitting on two of the most thorny subjects within the EU.
Macron’s office says he sought a separate meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Poland’s Beata Szydlo, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico.
Some countries, including Hungary and Poland, have refused to take part in a legally binding EU scheme to share refugees after a wave of migrant arrivals strained resources.
Macron said ahead of the summit that countries should suffer consequences for not respecting EU deals, saying Europe is not a “supermarket” where members can choose which rules to respect.
Orban, who has erected a border fence to keep migrants out, said it wasn’t fair for Macron to “kick” central European partners.
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