Hungarian Conservative

Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia has announced that his administration is not willing to implement the migration dictates included in the EU’s newly accepted migration pact. PM Viktor Orbán of Hungary and PM Donald Tusk of Poland have already voiced their objections to the pact.

The first V4 summit of the year is scheduled for 27 February, with a focus on illegal migration, energy security, and the EU’s strategic objectives. After the estrangement caused by the war in Ukraine, cooperation seems to be back on track, but its future will largely depend on the willingness and ability of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to collaborate.

Despite concessions from the European Commission, farmer protests across Europe show no signs of abating. On 22 February, farmers from the Visegrád Group countries will hold a joint demonstration to protest against EU agricultural policies.

The participants of the conference agreed to hold regular meetings to assess migration processes, said President of the Visegrád Four and Interior Minister of the Czech Republic Vít Rakušan in Budapest on Monday.

‘The effective exploitation of the sentiments of disappointment and hatred towards those in power and the embarrassment of parochial Polishness in opposition to an enlightened Europe triggered an incredible effect in the form of votes from young voters. Young voters most of whom, despite their youthful ideological fervour, do not recall the consequences of the rule of the opposition parties, especially the left-wing one, which they once again helped enter parliament.’

During the event, Marek Kuchciński and International Director at the University of Public Service (NKE) Ákos Mernyei planted two oak trees in the park of the Renaissance castle of Krasiczyn. One tree symbolizes the friendship of the nations in the region, while the other represents the Polish–Hungarian summer university organised in Krasiczyn since 2018.

Gergely Gulyás explained that since the previous cabinet took office in 2018, numerous changes have occurred in world politics and the economy, and the government elected in 2022 had to face completely different challenges than it did four years earlier.

Balázs Orbán opined that the economic competition between the Western and non-Western world is becoming balanced, thus the world is returning to a state of equilibrium. He recalled that in 1990, the Western world accounted for 50 per cent of the global economic power, whereas this year it is only 30 percent, and this loss of influence is visible in several areas.

Snubbing Hungary is a telltale sign that Czech President Petr Pavel has issues with the Hungarian government as well as with the V4 cooperation.

‘Slovakia has turned thirty years old. Whether the past three decades can be considered a success story remains an open question. The Slovak nation achieved the independence it had always wanted.’

The Czech Prime Minister said at the joint press conference that he was convinced the V4 cooperation had a future. He underscored that the meeting in Kosice was important, as ‘an open dialogue can be held even on issues on which there are different views.’

The latest public opinion survey from 2021 examines a wider range of V4 members’ self- and group perceptions, including pandemic topics.

In a statement on Wednesday, V4 foreign minister expressed their support of Czechia after Prague expelled Russian diplomats.