Central Europe leaders say migration is not the solution to population decline

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

BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Central European leaders signed a joint declaration on Thursday saying immigration should not be the answer to the European Union's declining birth rate, while calling on the bloc to keep family policy under national jurisdiction.

The strong anti-immigrant stances taken by governments in central European countries such as Hungary - while popular with many domestic voters - have contrasted sharply with policies in the rest of the bloc. These central European countries have also objected to EU criticism of their policies on social issues such as gay rights.