Prague, June 9 (CTK) – The Visegrad Four (V4) group, which is comprised of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, is not dying, but it is only turning into an instrument of individual governments, Martin Ehl writes in daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) yesterday.
The V4 was founded in 1991 as a platform for Central European countries’ cooperation on their way from the totalitarian system, which was dismantled in the region at the end 1989, towards a free, plurality and democratic society.
Ehl writes that the transformation of the group was evident at the debate of the four countries’ prime ministers in Prague on Wednesday.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka’s opinion that populism and nationalism are mounting in Europe was at a sharp contract with the opinions of the three other heads of government, Ehl writes.
He writes that Sobotka, summing up the Czech year-long presidency of the V4 that ends on June 30, said the V4 is now perceived in the EU as a strong player who must be taken into consideration.
The other prime ministers, however, rather focused on how their rule benefits the voters.
“Central Europe is now the most stable region of Europe. This was not so in history,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, referring to economic growth and security that the V4 governments guarantee for their citizens, Ehl writes.
He writes that Visegrad Four is for Hungary one of a few international organisations that enable the country to push through its often unconventional opinions.
Ehl writes that the death of Visegrad has been announced many times, but it is not dying. It has rather become in an instrument for individual governments to promote their interests.
This can be clearly manifested during the forthcoming Polish V4 presidency and the six-month Slovak presidency of the European Union, both starting on July 1, Ehl writes.
Slovakia, which has filed a complaint against mandatory migrant quotas with the European Court of Justice, now wants to take more moderate stances on the migrant influx, Ehl writes.
He writes that it has even agreed with the Czech Republic to convey its often more radical stands at joint EU forums.
However, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said at the Prague European summit that Slovakia will continue to insist on the hard protection of the joint EU border, Ehl writes.
He quotes Tomas Strazay, political analyst from the Slovak Foreign Policy Association and expert in central Europe, as saying that the V4 will now focus on technical rather than political and strategic issues.
Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo sent out a relatively critical signal to large EU countries, Germany and France, when she said at the summit in Prague it is also necessary to protect the interests of small countries in the EU [including from the V4], Ehl writes.
He adds that the Czech Republic and Slovakia are not so hard on Germany.
According to an analysis by the Polish think-thank Polityka Insight, the V4 countries are capable of finding a common tongue on migration and a single market, but they find it more difficult to bring their positions on energy or climate policy into harmony, Ehl writes.
It will be more difficult to defend individual national interests after the Brexit referendum, irrespective of its result, and this may harm Visegrad cooperation, Ehl writes.
He writes that the Czechs now speak a lot about the digital market and shared economy in the EU, while Fico proposes that Slovakia in cooperation with the Czech Republic should try to push protection of domestic pork and milk products to the agenda of the June EU summit.
Fico says that unlike the joint digital market, people understand these issues and they will come to understand that the European Union is significant and that it is doing something for them, Ehl writes.
Polish government officials, for their part, often say how important Central European cooperation and Visegrad are for the country, but they have left the preparation of the Visegrad presidency up to clerks who mainly focus on the traditional Polish themes, Ehl writes.
He writes that with regard to the tense relations between Warsaw and Brussels, the negative image of the V4 in the EU due to its rejection of migrants, the content of cooperation with the EU will hardly improve.
Ehl quotes Martin Michelot, research director of the Europeum think-tank, as saying that fragmentation and disintegration of interests await the Visegrad Four in the year to come because the Czechs will no longer play the moderating role which they played during their V4 presidency.
ms/t/hol
