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The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, made his first official to Prague on Tuesday. After being welcomed at Prague Castle with full military honours by Miloš Zeman, Mr. Steinmeier and his Czech counterpart discussed a range of issues, including refugees.

Mr. Zeman reiterated his opposition to the Czech Republic being forced to take in migrants by the European Union, while Mr. Steinmeier said it was important that the European Court’s ruling on the matter be respected.

In what was a brief meeting, the two heads of state also spoke about business cooperation between their two states, transport infrastructure and the UK’s planned exit from the European Union

The Czech Republic is resisting mounting pressure for it to take in more migrants in line with the EU’s redistribution mechanism. In a letter to the EU commissioner for migrants Dimitris Avramopulos, Czech Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said the country was pulling its weight in other ways.

Interior Minister Milan Chovanec has rejected criticism from Brussels that the Czech Republic had failed to meet its EU obligations by refusing to take in the migrants allotted to it under the mandatory quota redistribution system.

In a letter to the EU commissioner for migration, minister Chovanec said the Czech Republic was helping in other ways and was one of the most active countries in doing so.

He noted that since 2015 the Czech Republic had sent 68 experts to the so called hotspots to help with the registration of refugees, over 5,000 Czech police officers have helped protect the borders of Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia and other states and the Czech Republic has sent 640 million crowns in aid to Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon to help deal with the migrant crisis.

The European Court of Justice has dismissed Slovakia and Hungary’s legal challenge to the system of mandatory migrant quotas, devised by the EC as a means of dealing with the migrant crisis. The Czech Republic, which is also one of the countries rejecting the forced distribution of migrants, says the ruling will make no difference to its stand.

President Miloš Zeman says it would be better for the Czech Republic not to receive subsidies from the European Union than to be forced by the EU to accept refugees, the website Parlamentní listy reported on Wednesday.

Speaking to locals in the town of Český Těšín in the east of the country, Mr. Zeman said that following the European Court’s rejection of a complaint against migrant quotas from Slovakia and Hungary the Czech Republic would be forced to accept several thousand Muslim migrants under threat of a reduction in subsidies.

The president said, however, that Czechs should not give in to threats. If it comes to the worst, it is always better to surrender EU grants than allow in migrants, he said.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia have agreed to initiate a summit in Bratislava in October to discuss double standards by international food producers selling foodstuffs of varying quality under the same brand name across different EU countries. They took the decision at a joint government meeting in Lednice on Monday.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that both countries had agreed to take a tough stance on the issue, calling it a serious political problem. Inferior quality of some products in the Czech Republic and other former eastern bloc countries is true not only of some international food brands but also in building materials and some pharmaceutical products.

Czech ambassadors from around the world congregated in Prague this week for their annual round of consultations. Among the foreign policy issues on their agenda were security, economic diplomacy, EU-related matters and regional cooperation. During a small break in their busy agenda, I met with the Czech Ambassador to France Petr Drulák to talk about Franco-Czech relations, the country’s position in the EU and the role of the Visegrad alliance. I began by asking for his take on Prime Minister Sobotka’s recent proposal that the Czech Republic should

The Czech Republic may seek to gain observer status at Eurozone meetings to get on the inside track of the EU decision-making process.

Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek has said the Czech Republic should be able to present its interests in the EU in a manner that would not hurt the EU and stressed the country needed to take a straight-forward approach but also to look for compromise solutions in order to contribute positively to central Europe and the European Union as a whole.

The foreign minister made the statement at a meeting of diplomats in Prague on Monday; the prime minister spoke earlier. In his address, the foreign minister drew differences between 2016 and this year, namely Brexit and populist sentiments to leave the EU. He rated as positive Austrian and Dutch election results but made clear the departure by Great Britain would have a major impact - all the more reason for remaining members to address issues such as further integration.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia on one side and France and Austria have agreed that new rules need to be sought over the thorny issue of workers from low wage countries in Central Europe being sent to work in high wage economies without the local benefits and conditions. But the Czech Republic sees this issue as part of a broader debate.