Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó is in favor of improving economic cooperation between the Visegrad countries. Continue reading
Although many have already buried it, the V4 has once again proven to be a necessary and effective form of cooperation, said President Tamás Sulyok in Wisla, Poland, where the heads of state of the Visegrad countries (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) met.
Hungary’s President said at the press conference that the Visegrad Cooperation has been buried many times, but it has proved once again that it is needed. He noted that Central Europe faces serious challenges, but that the dialogue between the V4 is effective.
The neighborhood has been at war for more than a thousand days, but we can be hopeful that next year the arms will fall silent,”
he added.
In response to a question from Magyar Nemzet, Tamás Sulyok said that Hungary’s position on this has been rock-solid since the outbreak of the war. “The perception of the war within the V4 is changing, as I see it, because at today’s meeting we basically talked about peace, the possibilities of peace and the possibilities of action after peace. Our position has remained the same, while the position of others has changed in line with ours,” he stressed.
Success through unity – #V4 Presidential Summit in #Wisła
pic.twitter.com/9OS1CaAmwM— Dr. Tamás Sulyok (@DrTamasSulyok) December 16, 2024
The head of state also pointed out that the Hungarian EU presidency, the second since Hungary’s accession, will end in a few days. Tamás Sulyok noted that
during the Hungarian EU presidency, a number of significant policy achievements have been made, even if these six months have been mainly about institutional changes.
He also highlighted the fact that Budapest hosted the European Political Community Summit in early November.
He said that the adoption of the Budapest Declaration on a new European competitiveness pact by the informal European Council on November 8 was of great importance for the future of the Union as a whole. Among the Presidency’s achievements, the President also highlighted the agreement reached last Monday by the governments of the member states on the guidelines for the common agricultural policy after 2027, that aims to achieve a competitive and crisis-resilient agriculture. He also mentioned that Hungary was committed to supporting the full accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen area.
Slovakia’s President Peter Pellegrini welcomed the fact that the V4 is “beginning to take a pragmatic position” on the war in Ukraine.
“We all feel the need to bring the (warring) parties to the negotiating table as quickly as possible,” he said. The Slovak president added security cooperation is the common denominator of the V4, regardless of the political affiliation of the governing powers.
We had a good and open neighbourly debate at the #VisegradGroup Presidential Summit in charming Wisła near #Slovakia‘s border under #Poland‘s @V4_PRES.
A strategic timing at the beginning of #EU‘s new institutional cycle and just before the @POLAND25EU Presidency. #V4 remains… pic.twitter.com/4aM668bUZ6
— Peter Pellegrini (@PellegriniP_) December 16, 2024
Polish President Andrzej Duda underlined at the press conference that all parties agreed that negotiations on ending Russian aggression against Ukraine should be conducted with the participation of Ukraine.
We have also discussed the various proposals for ending the conflict, that will be made public,”
he informed the press.
The second part of the presidential talks focused on crisis management and civil protection. This topic was raised in the context of the floods that hit the Czech Republic and Poland three months ago. He said that during the meeting he had proposed the creation of a joint expert group to which the presidents’ representatives would be sent.
Via MTI, Magyar Nemzet; Featured image: X/Dr. Tamás Sulyok