A prime ministerial meeting of the Visegrad Group, consisting of Czechia, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, has not yet been convened as it would not produce any results, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said.
Relations in the Visegrad group (V4) have deteriorated due to differing views on the Russian invasion of Ukraine; while Czechia and Poland are strong supporters of Ukraine, the Hungarian government is blocking aid while Slovakia is opposing further arms donations to Ukraine.
The V4 has no institutions, but its politicians meet regularly to discuss current affairs. V4 also holds a rotating presidency system, with countries taking turns after a year. Czechia has already completed half of the presidency but has been postponing the meeting of leaders and foreign ministers.
“Of course, a meeting at the most important one, the prime ministerial level, has not been held recently. And I consider this logical in the context of what is happening, how the negotiations at the European Council are going,” Fiala told the press on Saturday.
In December’s European Council meeting, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán vetoed a €50 billion aid package for Ukraine. Therefore, intensive negotiations are now taking place at the level of EU diplomats trying to compromise with Hungary.
According to a Czech diplomatic source, the negotiations are on track and it is possible that the extraordinary meeting of EU leaders convened for 1 February will not be necessary. This week should be the decisive one.
Meanwhile, Hungary’s approach continues to worsen relations within the V4 group.
Fiala said he did not convene the V4 prime ministers’ meeting as there were elections in Poland and Slovakia last year.
According to Fiala, the V4 summit did not take place last year mainly because elections were held in two member countries – Slovakia and Poland. However, both countries already have new governments, so a meeting should be on the horizon.
“The situation is different now,” Fiala acknowledged.
“However, to meet at the highest level, I am ready for that in the future, we must have the preconditions for the meeting to lead to some result. So far, I am not convinced that all those preconditions are fulfilled,” Fiala explained, adding that he will await further developments, including those surrounding the planned extraordinary European Council.
V4 was formed in the 1990s to coordinate Czech, Polish, Slovak and Hungarian efforts to join the EU and NATO. The countries worked closely together even after they became members. Their cooperation was evident in 2015 when they fought against mandatory migrant relocation quotas or during the 2021-2027 EU budget negotiations.
(Aneta Zachová | Euractiv.cz)
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