Visegrad Countries

The cooperation of the Visegrad countries extends to four EU member states. Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary cooperate in all kinds of areas, not least with the help of the Visegrad Fund. To what extent is this an active, or to what extent is it an artificial alliance? Does this foursome create a sense of exclusion in the neighbouring countries?

moderator:  

Péter Inkei,

Director,
The Budapest Observatory - Regional observatory on financing culture in East-Central Europe

 This session is supported by the Visegrad Fund

A Subjective Introduction

Just at a glance at the map of Europe it can be seen that the countries of the Visegrád group – due to their position – could easily undertake a highly important intermediary role in the geographical relations of Western Europe, the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the Scandinavian countries. The group however, ever since its formation, has been concentrating on its internal conflicts instead: doing childish mischiefs during the competition to join the EU, kicking each others’ legs under the table with a friendly smile on their faces. Today each country admits that the farfetched compulsion characteristic of the 1990s to adjust to the EU proved to be too rash: think of the unilateral reduction of protective tariffs, the partial dispatch of financial independence or the one-sided adoption of the agricultural EU regulations.      

How else could the EU possibly evaluate the V4 (at least according to the author’s private opinion) based on communication with the Community and between each other? The group comprises self-respecting Polish, Czechs keeping an aristocratic distance, stubborn Slovakians and Hungarians constantly searching for separate ways in their solutions. The group could have easily made much more out of it in the past 20 years, since it is not as artificial as we believe: its establishment in 1991 refers back to the summit in 1335 between the Hungarian, Czech and Polish rulers, who met in the royal palace of Visegrád to try and place the region – and through that themselves – into a more advantageous position, mostly negotiating over political and economic questions. 

Be as it may, fortunately things seem to be working out better in the case of cultural co-operation. Even in worldwide comparison, the region’s outstanding cultural heritage is constantly flourishing in the fields of internal collaboration, and the artistic co-operation is only very rarely disturbed by less elevated political tension (or that between politicians). The V4’s most successful initiative – and this is not just a private opinion this time, but also the founders’ viewpoint – was the establishment of the Visegrád fund in 2000 in aid of collaboration of cultural and scientific spheres.

With the expansion of the EU, regional co-operations are coming more and more to the foreground, finding local solutions for internal problems between certain more or less organically cohesive formations or offering good advice for the closing up of nearby regions. Promising and encouraging is the V4’s declaration made on 20^th July 2010, which emphatically deals with questions like the Euro-Atlantic accession of the Balkans and the orientation of the countries of the Eastern Partnership.

The Visegrád Fund is now 10 years old and the 20^th anniversary of the V4’s formation is drawing up soon in February. The Palace of Arts is proud to dedicate a whole section of its international conference in September to the matters of Visegrád with the support of the Visegrád Fund.

Gábor Pálfi

Head of International Affairs

Palace of Arts – Budapest

Joint Statement

Summit of the Heads of Government of the Visegrad Group

20 July 2010, Budapest

The Heads of Government of the Visegrad Group met in Budapest on 20 July 2010 on the occasion of the official end of the Hungarian Presidency of the Visegrad Group and the handover of the Presidency to the Slovak Republic.

The Hungarian V4 Presidency Program has been successfully implemented and the main goals have been achieved in the following key areas: the promotion – through the V4+ format of cooperation – of the Euro-Atlantic integration of the Western Balkans and the Euro-Atlantic alignment of the Eastern Partners, strengthening energy security of our region, adoption of a common spatial development document, commencing V4 cooperation in the field of Roma integration.

The Heads of Government of the Visegrad Group adopted the Program of the Slovak Presidency of the Visegrad Group for the next one year period of July 2010 – June 2011, with its main priorities aiming at further strengthening closer regional cooperation of the Visegrad Group within the framework of the European agenda in key areas like preparation of the EU budget revision and new financial perspective, implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy, energy security, climate change, competitiveness, infrastructure development, economic cooperation, social inclusion of the Roma population, as well as promotion of joint events on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Visegrad Group. The Visegrad Group will continue to implement its key foreign policy priorities and common goals within the European Union with particular attention to the regions of the Western Balkans and the Eastern Partnership.

The four Prime Ministers equally attach great importance to the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region, which convey a positive message on Central Europe while strengthening its cohesion as an integral part of the European Union.

The Prime Ministers discussed the upcoming Hungarian and Polish Presidencies of the Council of the European Union and have recognized them, with the strong cooperation of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, as a historic opportunity to make 2011 a “year of Central Europe” in the EU. They declared their commitment to the success of the two Central European EU Presidencies with the ultimate objective of a strong Central Europe in a strong European Union.