As the European Union faces growing pressure over Brexit, the European Commission President sent a letter to the leaders of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia to stress the “paramount importance” of EU unity despite the UK’s exit.
Mr Juncker said: “I believe that preserving the unity of the remaining 27 in this process is of paramount importance.”
The eastern states have resisted an EU programme for all member states to accept refugees after the mass migration in 2015-16 from the Middle East and Africa.
Poland and Hungary are particularly against the proposal and have been constantly at loggerheads with the Commission, as well as Germany and France, over what the bloc regards as their flouting of democratic rules.
Poland is currently under an EU investigation over a series of reforms that critics say threaten the independence of the Polish judiciary.
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Italy, who is on the forefront of the migrant crises, has suggested cutting aid to eastern states through the EU budget if they fail to show “solidarity” over migration.
But EU handouts to eastern nations are under particular threat as Britain, who is a major donor, leaves the bloc in 2019.
There is also rising tension over the EU’s labour rules, which France and other western states say give an unfair advantage to cheap workers from the east.
After pro-EU Emmanuel Macron won the French presidency this year, Brussels hopes renewed Paris-Berlin alliance can bring in reforms needed for the bloc to thrive after Britain’s exit.
A senior EU diplomat said: “The Franco-German axis is promising to be the strongest in years. The easterners either play along or they lose.”
The EU is under further pressure after a recent illegal referendum in Catalonia which has sparked fears over a “Catalexit”.
Belgium MEP Philippe Lamberts, the head of the Green grouping in the European Parliament, said the crisis “threatened the spirit of European integration, even more than Brexit”.
His warning comes after Catalonia’s president, Carles Puigdemont, announced that the region will declare independence next week.
In a last-ditch attempt to bring Catalonia back under control, European Union officials have warned leaving Spain would also mean leaving the bloc.
A spokesman for the European People’s Party, the largest party in the European Parliament, said: “Someone needs to tell the Catalan people the truth. If you contest the law to abandon Spain you also need to know that you abandon the EU.”
Juncker has proposed the dinner with the eastern European leaders in Brussels on October 18, ahead of the EU summit on October 19-20.