LEDNICE, Czech Republic — The prime ministers of four central European countries have welcomed a European Union n EU plan to create a 750 billion-euro ($825 billion) recovery fund to help countries weather a painful recession triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

But the leaders of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia say the fund should be distributed more broadly than has been proposed.

The four countries that form an informal group known as Visegrad Four have been less affected by the pandemic. Harder hit nations, including Italy and Spain, are expected to receive the biggest sums from the EU fund.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis hosted a meeting of the Visegrad Four on Thursday. He said, “It should not happen that some countries would be disadvantaged only because they coped well with the crisis.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary added it would be “morally unacceptable” for richer countries to receive more than the poorer ones in central Europe.

Tough negotiations are expected next week when EU leaders are set to discuss the issue.