EditBled Forum: Central European leaders use their countries’ weight to defend interests
Brussels comes under fire for excessive regulation, migration, energy costs, the Green Deal and handling the war in Ukraine
Speaking in Bled, Slovenia, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš issued a clear and operational call for the creation of coalitions of European Union member states that would actively defend the interests of the Czech Republic and the broader Central European region during negotiations on the next multiannual EU budget.
The remarks, delivered at the Bled Strategic Forum alongside the leaders of host country Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary, framed closer regional coordination as essential if Central Europe is to protect its industrial base, cohesion funding and energy security in an increasingly competitive and regulated Union.
Babiš told his counterparts Janez Janša, Andrej Plenković and Péter Magyar that the most urgent task facing the region is the formation of practical alliances capable of shaping the outcome of the 2028–2034 financial framework. He specifically advocated coalitions of “friends of competitiveness” and “friends of cohesion” that would intervene forcefully in the talks. “Today, the most important thing for us is to create coalitions,” he said. Referring to preliminary proposals from the European Commission, he insisted that member states must make clear it is unacceptable for them to receive less money than in the current period. The message was immediate and concrete: without coordinated pressure, the next budget risks weakening the instruments that have supported industrial modernisation and regional development across Central Europe.
Regional cooperation returns as a strategic priority
Babiš placed particular emphasis on the revival of the Visegrad Group – Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, describing it as “the future of Europe.” After years of relative dormancy caused by sharp disagreements over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the grouping regained momentum following the victory of Péter Magyar’s party in the Hungarian parliamentary elections in April. Leaders subsequently agreed to coordinate positions on the EU budget, energy, migration, agriculture and competitiveness. Babiš argued that the future of Europe itself will be shaped by the outcomes of elections in Poland, France, Spain and Italy next year, and above all by the European Parliament elections in 2029. In the meantime, he said, Central European governments must act together rather than wait for institutional goodwill from Brussels.
The Czech prime minister used the platform to renew his criticism of the Green Deal, which he described as a climate policy that is destroying industry. He claimed that Czech industry has already lost 6.5 billion euros, or roughly 157 billion crowns, as a result of its implementation, and warned that the policy will raise living costs for citizens across the continent. “That is why we must fight together to change this energy strategy,” Babiš said. The comment carried particular weight because he himself had supported the original Green Deal commitments when he was prime minister in 2019. He also criticised the European Union’s handling of the war in Ukraine, arguing that the bloc has been unable even to agree on whether it should try to end the conflict or simply continue managing it, and that serious discussion of peace remains scarce. He linked the war’s economic fallout to soaring natural-gas prices and the resulting crisis in fertiliser production, noting that the “terrible situation” in this sector has hit Central European producers hard. Agrofert, the company he founded and which remains one of the largest fertiliser manufacturers in the region, has felt the impact directly.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković framed this edition of the annual Bled meeting as a deliberate signal.
“Meeting here is in a way an attempt to send a message to our partners that Central European countries are getting stronger, more resilient, more competitive, more democratic and more influential within the EU,” he said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar welcomed the renewed effort, declaring that “Central Europe can be the centre of Europe, but we have to do our homework.” He urged governments to avoid “double-speak” between domestic and European messaging and identified energy security, regional infrastructure connections and enlargement into the Western Balkans as practical areas for cooperation. He also accused the Union of treating Hungary unfairly on migration despite the country’s role in protecting the bloc’s external border.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša struck a more critical note, acknowledging that EU membership had delivered development funding and higher standards but arguing that European institutions have increasingly responded to successive crises – migration, Brexit, the pandemic, and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East – with excessive regulation. “It is all regulated, and it is the weakest point of the EU,” he said.
Western initiative highlights Europe’s fragmentation
While Central European leaders sought to strengthen their collective voice from Bled, a different initiative launched only weeks earlier underscored the depth of regional and conceptual divides within the Union. In August 2026 Mario Draghi and Patrick Collison, chief executive of Stripe, founded the Rhine Group, a Geneva-based think tank designed to accelerate economic reforms across Europe.
Observers have already noted that the Rhine Group’s composition and orientation appear heavily weighted toward Western European perspectives and priorities. That perception itself illustrates the fragmentation. While the Bled leaders focus on defending cohesion funds, industrial competitiveness and national room for manoeuvre on energy and migration, the Rhine Group presses for faster structural reform, deeper market integration and a more aggressive stance on technological competition. The two projects are not formally opposed, yet they reveal different diagnoses of Europe’s malaise and different centres of gravity for solutions.
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The negotiations over the next seven-year EU budget will test whether the shared message emerging from Central Europe can be translated into a durable common position. Babiš’s call for coalitions of friends of competitiveness and cohesion is an attempt to turn regional proximity into negotiating leverage before the formal talks intensify. Whether that leverage materialises will depend on the ability of Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and their partners to maintain discipline across a range of sensitive dossiers. For the moment, the Bled meeting has placed the demand for greater Central European influence squarely on the agenda, at a time when both the economic pressures inside the Union and the external challenges surrounding it continue to mount.
Sources: Update-eu.cz, EU Perspectives, EUnews.it, Euronews
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Caption: In Bled, Slovenia, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš issued a clear and operational call for the creation of coalitions of European Union member states that would actively defend the interests of the Czech Republic and the broader Central European region during negotiations on the next multiannual EU budget. (Andrej Babiš’ Facebook page)
Updated: September 2, 2026 - 05:23
