BUDAPEST, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Hungary and Austria stood on common grounds regarding the necessity of the European integration of the Western Balkans, Hungarian leaders said Thursday.
That came after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Speaker of the parliament Laszlo Kover met with visiting Austrian President of the National Council Wolfgang Sobotka.
Sobotka met first with Orban. "Besides discussing bilateral ties between Hungary and Austria, the two men discussed the European Integration of the Western Balkans," Bertalan Havasi, head of the Prime Minister's press office told Hungarian news agency MTI.
"The integration of the Western Balkans is in the interest of Europe as a whole, but particularly in the interest of Austria and Hungary," Havasi added.
Havasi also mentionned that cooperation between Austria and the Visegrad countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia) was excellent. Austria and the Visegrad countries would organize a joint conference on June 21 in Budapest.
Laszlo Kover, speaker of the Hungarian parliament received Sobotka later Thursday.
He said that the European integration of the Western Balkans was not only important because of the common history shared by these countries with Hungary and Austria, but also because the question was a key issue from the perspective of the safety and the future of Europe.
"Reluctant older Member States must be persuaded, this question must not be procrastinated," he said.
Sobotka shared Kover's views and added: "The acceleration of the integration process of the Western Balkans will be a major duty of the next Austrian presidency of the Council of the European Union."
"These countries must learn about the rule of law, the security of the legal environment and the development of democracy," he said.
On July 1, 2018, Austria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the third time after 1998 and 2006.
