|  The Foreign Ministers of Visegrad Four countries (V4 - Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland) met in Prague at the invitation of the Czech Republic, which is the current president of the V4 co-operation forum. Neighbourhood policy to the east of the European Union was high on the agenda. The issue is topical: after closing its last wave of enlargement, the European Union began focusing on developing relations with states on the east of the continent, while some of these countries have exaggerated hopes regarding the pace of approach towards the EU. The danger, said Ms. Göncz, therefore emerges that these countries fail to take advantage of opportunities offered by the neighbourhood policy, to which V4 countries could offer substantial assistance.
The ministers first held talks in a group of four, before inviting the representatives of Ukraine and Sweden to join in order to review the situation. (Sweden will hold the EU’s rotating presidency after the Czech Republic in the second half of 2009.) The V4 members reiterated their desire to help advance Ukraine’s accession process, including the development of an enhanced agreement, as well as the establishment of a wide-reaching free-trade zone between Ukraine and the European Union. The V4 delegates expressed their opinion that Belarus should be offered a full-fledged membership in the neighbourhood policy scheme, provided that the Minsk leadership can prove—by taking concrete and convincing steps—that it is on the road to democratisation and that it respects human rights. In this connection, the V4 members raised the proposition that, as a unilateral gesture, visa fees should be substantially cut back for Belarusians and waived altogether for young people. The four ministers stressed that the Visegrad Fund should help in Belarus, mainly though supporting book publishing, the printed media, certain radio and television programmes, which promote Visegrad co-operation and democratic values. As regards Georgia, the V4 ministers made the case for encouraging dialogue on introducing free trade, as well as easing visa requirements and drawing up an agreement on the readmission of persons. At the same time, they called attention to the fact that the EU must take greater initiative as regards issues concerning separatist regions, and on the basis of Georgia’s territorial integrity. The statement adopted at the meeting agrees that both Ukraine and Georgia should be offered NATO membership, and it would be an important step towards this aim if they were included in the Membership Action Plan. The ministers agreed that the Czech Republic’s upcoming EU presidency would offer favourable opportunities for Visegrad countries in order to further expand their co-operation in promoting mutual interests, as well as tapping on existing close ties with the future presidency. The Czech Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra informed the delegates attending the meeting about the planned priorities of the Czech presidency (competitiveness, liberal trade policy, sustainable energy policy, transatlantic relations, Western Balkans and Eastern neighbourhood policy). At the end of the day, Kinga Göncz held talks with Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, first tête-à-tête, then in a larger group with the inclusion of the delegates. (April 23, 2008) |