Central Europeans say social benefits key worry in British talks

BRUSSELS, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic want to keep Britain in the European Union but London's plans to curb welfare benefits to migrant workers in Britain remain their "primary concern", a joint statement said.

The four central European states want to allow Britain to use a mechanism to exclude migrant EU workers from in-work benefits only over a period of four years, underlining the temporary nature of the measure.

"The countries of the Visegrad Group view the United Kingdom as an important member of the EU," read the document, obtained by Reuters.

"Our focus must remain on the primary purpose, which is to find commonly agreed upon solutions to UK's concerns."

"The overall period should be as short as possible, in any case not exceeding four years," the document said. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska)