Visegrád: The Evolving Pattern of Coordination and Partnership After EU Enlargement

Abstract

Multilateral, subregional partnerships are one of the defining features of contemporary European politics. The 2004 enlargement of the European Union introduced a new partnership entity to the mix—the Visegrád Group of states, comprising the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia—which offers its members a useful model to discuss and represent common interests in a collective manner within the regional and international political landscape. The article provides a reflection on the evolution of the Visegrád Group of states since 2004. It examines four key policy areas (institutional candidacy, energy policy, eastern neighbourhood and defence policy) where the group has either learned some difficult lessons or is seeking to apply those lessons. The article suggests that the Visegrád Group's greatest strength lies in its flexibility to become more responsive to the challenges it faces and it is likely therefore to remain appealing to its member states and to be a permanent feature within the wider cohort of European Union subregional partnerships.

Notes

Sections of an early draft version of this article have been used by the International Centre for Democratic Transition (2011) study edited by Sándor Köles, ‘Sharing the Experiences of Visegrád Cooperation in the Western Balkans and the Eastern Neighbourhood Countries Project Final Study’, available at: http://www.icdt.hu/documents/publications/Project-Final-Study.pdf, accessed 9 July 2013.

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² ‘From Visegrad to Mitteleuropa’, The Economist, 14 April 2005.

³ During their terms as non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, V4 countries can brief and discuss matters with the rest of the group as was underlined in the report of the Slovakian Presidency which coincided with the country's turn as the Eastern European participant in the work of the principal UN body on international security (Visegrád 2007a).

⁴ Collective membership of V4 countries in the OECD Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF).

⁵ ‘Non-papers’ are discussion documents drawn up by one of the EU's institutions, and individual or groups of member states. They do not represent the official position of the institution or country which drafted them and have no official status. They are mainly used to encourage debate on matters considered to be sensitive and enable EU decision makers to talk about issues that might otherwise not make it onto the discussion agenda.

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⁷ Press Release of the GUAM–Visegrád Group Meeting, Athens, Hellenic Republic, 1 December 2009, CMFA-VG PR(09)1, final version, available at: http://www.mfa.gov.ge/files/30_11288_927155_GUAMCMFA-VGPR01.12.2009.doc, accessed 9 July 2013.

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