By: V4 Agency
The strength of the Visegrad Group, which is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary, lies the effectiveness of its joint action and the fact that it represents the whole region’s interests on the international stage, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a statement on Wednesday with regards to the V4 summit in Krakow.
The Polish prime minister expressed his gratitude for three decades of cooperation in the region of the Visegrad 4 bloc in a Facebook post on Wednesday morning.
The long and hard road of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia to the fall of Socialism in 1989 gave a strong impetus to regional integration and the creation of a sense of stabilisation and security within the “European family.” According to the Polish premier, the power of the V4 bloc lies “in the synergy of joint action, in a stronger negotiating position in the bodies of the European Union (EU), and in representing the interests and strategic goals of our region on the international stage.”
“As four sovereign states, we do not have to agree on all issues,” Mr Morawiecki said, underlining that the Visegrad countries have a broad range of common interests stemming from their geographical vicinity, an identity based on similar historical experiences and their common socio-economic challenges. He cited examples of cooperation in the fields of security, migration and cohesion policy, the development of the common (EU) market and issues related to the digital economy.
Speaking about the economic development seen in the region in recent decades, he pointed out that in terms of economic dynamism, the Visegrad group has performed significantly better than the EU average in recent years. In addition, he noted that the rate of unemployment in the region last December was not higher than the EU average. By accounting for nearly 15 per cent of the EU’s foreign trade volume, the V4 group has a strong mandate within the European Union. Between 2017 and 2019, digital economy in Central and Eastern Europe grew by almost 8 per cent annually, at a much faster pace than seen by the five largest economies in Western Europe.
Mr Morawiecki described the International Visegrad Fund as one of the key achievements the V4 countries reached, bringing societies in the region closer together. Since 2000, more than 2,400 scholarships have been awarded to students and around 6 thousand projects have been implemented through the Fund. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, coordination of efforts to curb the disease was facilitated through a V4 virtual information centre and mutual medical missions, he highlighted.
The meeting of V4 prime ministers in Krakow on Wednesday marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the V4 group. The coronavirus pandemic, as well as the EU’s climate and migration policies are included in the agenda of the summit, which is also attended by Charles Michel, the President of the European Council.
It is the responsibility of the Visegrad countries (V4) to defend the continent, in the interest of Europe’s future,…
