1991-2021: 30 years of V4 cooperation

Online roundtable on 10 September 2021

Welcome speech

Péter Stepper, Corvinus Society for Foreign Affairs and Culture

Speakers

Jaroslav Usiak, Matej Bel University

Péter Dobrowiecki, Antall József Knowledge Centre

Péter Stepper, Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade

Online roundtable on 21 September 2021

Welcome speech

Dr. Péter Rada, Corvinus Society for Foreign Affairs and Culture

Speakers

Adam Reichardt, editorial head, New Eastern Europe

Ladislav Cabada, vice-dean, Metropolitan University of Prague

Dominika Bacova, assistant professor, Matej Bel University

Podcast with Jaroslav Usiak and Dominika Bacova

Moderator: Peter Stepper

Available on Soundcloud

Podcast with Ladislav Cabada

Moderator: Béla Gedeon

Available on Soundcloud

Péter Rada: 30 years of Visegrad Cooperation and the Transatlantic Relations

Abstract:

2021 is the Central European year as the Visegrad Cooperation celebrates and commemorates the 30 th anniversary of its foundation. In case we would like to understand the political geometry in which the V4 countries need to navigate we need to understand the changes in the last 30 years, second, to analyze the trends than we are able to give predictions related to our regions multilateral relations in the Transatlantic world. The paper intends to highlight these trends and development of the Visegrad cooperation in the Transatlantic system.

Keywords: US-CEE relations, foreign policy, international relations

Jakub Bornio: 30 years of Visegrád Cooperation – the Polish perspective

Abstract:

The collapse of the Soviet Union enabled a new opening in the foreign policy of recently established states and Moscow’s former satellites, including Poland. The new geopolitical circumstances opened a window of opportunity for Poland’s foreign and security policy which then decision-makers decided to use in their march toward Euro-Atlantic platforms of integration. The post-Solidarity parties that ruled the country shortly after the fall of Iron Curtin defined it quite clearly. On 26 April 1990, Krzysztof Skubiszewski (MFA from 1989 till 1993) stated in his expose that Poland “will co-create a system of European security […] will cooperate for the cause of unity of our continent” as well as it will expand “links with European organizations and groupings”, most importantly the European Communities. Noteworthy, such policy was understood in terms of not only geopolitical but also civilizational reorientation. Surprisingly, all the succeeding governments – including post-communist ones – consequentially tried to “escape” from the grey zone of security and strived for membership in the NATO Alliance and the European Union. This primal objective obviously determined other external dimensions of policy including “coexistence with mighty neighbours”, Germany and Russia, as referred to as by Skubiszewski, and intensified cooperation within the region, “with special emphasis on integration in the Czechoslovakia-Poland-Hungary triangle’. As a result, Poland succeeded in its Euro-Atlantic integration as well as was operational within numerous regional platforms of cooperation such as the Weimar Triangle, Bucharest Nine, the most recently inaugurated Lublin Triangle and the most important from the perspective of this paper the Visegrád Group (V4). Noteworthy, such grouping is not a distinctive feature of Central and Eastern Europe since similar platforms of cooperation may be found in other European regions too.

Ladislav Cabada: 30 Years of Visegrad: from “Back to Europe” to the Fight for a Different Europe

Abstract: The Visegrad Group has become a visible but predominantly negatively perceived protagonist over the last decade. This paper observes the transformation of V4 into the form of a populist regional group including the embeddedness of the group in the network of European national-populist and nativist forces. Using the concept of culture wars, it presents the basic positions of two clear-cut groups both within the V4 and in the wider European context. It rejects the Manichaean conception of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ established by these two groups and emphasizes the need for consensus using the basic premise of classical liberalism, i.e. the right to have a different opinion.

Keywords: Visegrad Group, European Union; Conflict of values; Populism