Does the Visegrád Four represent a real political power in Europe? What possibilities do Central-European countries have for cooperation? Is the potential of the V4 exploited sufficiently? Debate articles by Csaba Fodor, political analyst, and Botond Feledy foreign policy expert.

The Visegrad group is a cooperation between 4 countries located in Central-Eastern Europe: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. More than 25 years ago these countries could only dream of joining the EU. Today however they represent a common interest group, opposing the quota system that the EU wanted to implement, to relieve the burden on Greece and Italy where migrants and refugees (many fleeing the war in Syria) reached the European Union in huge numbers, in the past years. Can their joint standpoint, vehemently opposing the quota system, be considered a success?

The European Union aims to bring economic prosperity and peace to all its member states. Yet, more than a decade after the accession of the Central-Eastern European bloc, a huge difference subsists between the wages of the Western and Eastern member states.
Is it possible to overcome these differences in the near future and if so, what would be the best way to do it?

The so called “Visegrad Four” (“V4”) cooperation includes the Central European countries of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The V4 represents a strong Central-Eastern European interest group within the EU. Slovakia could be a strong member of the Visegrad Four cooperation, but the current situation is different.
Will Slovakia choose to side with the core of the EU, over a close cooperation within the V4?