Migration not the solution to EU's population challenge -CEE leaders

[September 23, 2021]    BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Central European leaders signed a joint declaration on Thursday saying immigration should not be the answer to the European Union's demographic challenges, while calling on the bloc to keep family policy under national jurisdiction.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic and Member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Presidency Milorad Dodik applaud as they attend the Budapest Demographic Summit in Budapest, Hungary, September 23, 2021. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo

"Each Member State should shape its own family policy in accordance with its own constitution, traditions and customs. Family policy is and should remain a national competence," said the statement, signed by the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and the president of Serbia.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Alison Williams)

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