Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic -- the so-called Visegrad Four countries -- say they will boycott this weekend’s European summit on migration, saying it is not the appropriate format for such talks.
The four states oppose calls from Western EU counterparts, particularly Germany, for all member states to "share the burden" and accept a quota of migrants who have entered the EU since 2015.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pressed for the emergency meeting on June 24 in Brussels ahead of a full EU summit on June 28-29.
Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Malta, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria are scheduled to attend.
"We understand there are domestic political difficulties in some countries, but that cannot lead to pan-European haste," right-wing, antimigrant Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on June 21.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described the summit as "unacceptable."
"We are not going to attend -- they want to reheat a proposal that we've already rejected," he said.
This weekend’s meeting is being organized by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Orban said such meetings of state leaders should be organized by the European Council, the EU's top decision-making body, and not the EU Commission.
