Czech PM: EU should respect national sovereignty of member states

National sovereignty should not be degraded by membership in the European Union; it should form the cornerstone of European identity, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said at a conference on national sovereignty and European identity in Prague. He warned against gradually transforming the EU into a “super-national federation". After the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU tried to promote the concept of European identity and there have been attempts to make decision-making in the bloc more centralized, Babiš said.  He argued that the European Commission has a tendency to interfere in the affairs of member states, citing Poland and Hungary.