Visegrad Cooperation

Over more than a decade and a half, the V4 became an efficient framework for consultations and cooperation as well as a „mark” internationally known and acknowledged. The four countries adopted common positions on a number of issues and succeeded in harmonising their interests. European and other partners are keen on making contact with the Four, while meetings and dialogues in V4+ formats have became regular. Other groups of regional cooperation (Benelux, Baltic3 countries, Nordic Council of Ministers) look to the Visegrad Group as a potential partner. Today, the renewed Visegrad Cooperation covers three major dimensions: cooperation on foreign and European policies, sectoral cooperation and the civic dimension.

The name of the cooperation refers to the historical meeting of 1335 in the royal palace of Visegrad, where Hungarian, Czech and Polish kings took strategic decisions for political and commercial purposes in order to strengthen the role of the region. On 15 February 1991, the renewed Visegrad Cooperation was set up with the aim of supporting the three post-socialist Central-Eastern-European countries’ (Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland) Euro-Atlantic integration. (The V4 configuration was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the establishment of the independent Czech and Slovak Republics) – Visegrad Declaration 

Initial goals of the Visegrad Group have been achieved, namely NATO and afterwards EU accessions. The fact that circumstances changed, poses qualitatively new and advanced expectations to the Four, at the same time reinterpreting their cooperation. It has been justified that the Visegrad Cooperation still has real function within the EU as well. Common goals are laid down in the New Visegrad Declaration signed by the Prime Ministers of the four countries on 12 May 2004 in Kromeříž, Czech Republic. Under the declaration it was undertaken that in the future, the V4 endeavour to take advantage of the opportunities opened up by joint actions in a pragmatic way, focusing on the common interests, free of illusions. The document outlines the coordinating mechanisms as well (political, sectoral and expert meetings, as well as high-level summits). The cooperation is coordinated by the one-year rotating presidency. Since 1 July 2010, the Slovak Republic has taken over the Presidency of the Visegrad Group from Hungary.

The Visegrad Cooperation has now evolved and has been trivialised in a good sense. The focus is much more on practical details instead of monumental events. Basically, the intergovernmental cooperation works on expert level and in an operative way. In practice, it means that colleagues of the ministries and other institutions keep daily contact for defining practical tasks of the cooperation and evaluating the given opportunities. Therefore, intensive consultations are taking place in order to undertake new challenges arising from the new situation given after the Schengen accession of the four countries. The matter of revising jointly the practice of issuing visas deserves special attention regarding EU aspirant and future aspirant countries in the long run. Bearing in mind the need to comply with the EU law, it is prioritised by the Four that the new Schengen borders do not isolate citizens of states being out of the area. In the field of environmental protection and energy security as well, the Four shares common interests in many aspects.

Besides intergovernmental cooperation, cultural and civic dimensions represent increasing significance. Since the time the Visegrad Group was formed, cultural relations have gradually grown more active. It is becoming more and more obvious that even organisations set up by citizens of the four countries, namely the representatives of the civil society are looking for mutual cooperation as well.

Probably the most successful segment of the cooperation is the International Visegrad Fund (IVF), seated in Bratislava, set up by the four states in June 2000 (The IVF is the single institutionalised element of the V4). The Fund intends to enhance the interstate cooperation in the fields of culture, scientific exchange, education, exchanges between young people and cross-border cooperation. Thanks EUR 5,000,000 budget, that has been increased each year since 2003, applications are submitted six times a year to the secretary of the IVF in Bratislava from the four countries as well as from numerous other countries, the latest being Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan from September 2008. The Fund offers a constantly growing scale of opportunities, thus the Visegrad Scholarship Programme started to work in 2003. This particular programme is for scholars coming from one of the V4 countries and plan to study in any of this country (Intra-Visegrad Scholarship) and for outstanding students plan to study in third countries’ universities (Out-Going Scholarship). The Prime Ministers decided in June 2009 on a further increase of national contribution to the IVF (EUR 1,500,000 per states up to EUR 6,000,000 totally) to be implemented from 2010 onwards.

High-level meetings in 2007

• 18 June
  Negotiations between V4 and the Portugal Prime Ministers – Bratislava, Slovakia
• 21-21 September
  Summit of V4 Presidents – Keszthely, Hungary
• 25 October
  Consultation between Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the four countries and Moldavia – Prague/Stirín, Czech Republic
• 9-10 December
  Consultation between Prime Ministers of V4 and Slovenia – Ostrava, Czech Republic

High-level meetings in 2008

• 22 April
  Meeting of the V4 Ministers of Foreign Affairs with the participation of Ukraine and Sweden – Prague, Czech Republic
• 15-16 June
  Summit of V4 Prime Ministers and French President Nicolas Sarkozy – Prague, Czech Republic
• 12-13 September
  Summit of V4 Presidents – Piešťany, Slovakia
• 5 November
  Summit of Prime Ministers of V4, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia – Warsaw, Poland
• 24 November
  Meeting of V4 Ministers of Foreign Affairs and heads of Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Sweden, Romanian and Bulgarian diplomacy – Warsaw, Poland
• 6 December
  Summit of V4 Prime Ministers and the Romanian, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian premiers with the participation of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy – Gdansk, Poland

High-level meetings in 2009

• 8 January
  Summit of V4 Prime Ministers – Bratislava, Slovakia
• 21 May
  Meeting of V4 Ministers of Foreign Affairs with the participation of Sweden – Warsaw, Poland
• 3-4 June
  Summit of Prime Ministers of V4, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and the Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany – Wieliczka/Krakow, Poland
• 11-12 September
  Summit of V4 and Slovenian Presidents – Sopot, Poland
• 6 October
  Extended meeting of the V4 Ministers of Foreign Affairs with the participation of the Belgian, Spanish and the Western Balkan diplomatic leaders – Budapest

High-level meetings in 2010

• 24 February
  V4+ Energy Security Summit of the Prime Ministers with the participation of the Prime Ministers of the Visegrad Countries, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Serbia, the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, as well as high ranking representatives of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Slovenia, Spain, the European Commission and the United States – Budapest
• 2 March
  Extended Foreign Ministerial meeting of the Visegrad Group with the participation of the V4 Countries, Belgium, Spain, the Baltic States, Countries of the Eastern Partnership and EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Stefan Füle – Budapest
• 20 July
  Summit of the Prime Ministers of the Visegrad Group – Budapest
• 14 September
  Meeting of the V4 Ministers for Foreign Affairs on the margin of GLOBSEC international security policy conference – Bratislava
• 22 October
  Extended meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the Visegrad Group with the participation of Belgium, Stefán Füle EU Commissioner and the representatives of the Western Balkan countries – Bratislava
• 5-6 November
  Summit of the Presidents of the Visegrad Group – Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

Documents

Joint statements

• Visegrad Group Ministerial Statement on the Western Balkans (Bratislava 22 October 2010) 
• Joint Statement of the Heads of Government of the Visegrad Group, Budapest, 20 July 2010 
• Joint statement of the foreign ministers of the Visegrad Group at their meeting in Budapest, 2 March 2010 
• Declaration of the Budapest V4+ Energy Security Summit, 24 February 2010 
• Joint Press Statement of the Foreign Ministers of the Visegrad Group, Budapest, 6 October 2009 (English) 
• Joint Statement of the Foreign Ministers of the Visegrad Group Countries and of Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Sweden, Warsaw, Poland, 24 November 2008 (English) 
• Joint Statement of the Visegrad Group Prime Ministers, Warsaw, 5 November 2008 (English) 
• Joint Statement of the Visegrad Group Prime Ministers
  Tále, Slovakia, 24-25 June 2003 (English)
• Joint Statement of the Visegrad Group Prime Ministers
  Esztergom, Hungary, 29 June 2002 (Hungarian)

Other documents

• Program of the Slovak Presidency of the Visegrad Group (2010-2011) 
• Annual Report – Activities of the Hungarian Presidency of the Visegrad Group 2009-2010 
• Calendar of the Hungarian Presidency of the Visegrad Group 2009-2010 
• Action Plan of the Hungarian Presidency of the Visegrad Group 2009-2010 
• Program of the Hungarian Presidency of the Visegrad Group (2009-2010) 
• Annual Report 2008 of the International Visegrad Fund (English) 
• Annual Report 2007 of the International Visegrad Fund (English) 

Important links

• Visegrad Group: http://www.visegradgroup.org/  (English)
• International Visegrad Fund: http://www.visegradfund.org/  (English)