Polish Presidency of the Visegrad Group

On 15th February, Polish Ambassador to the UK, Arkady Rzegocki, marked the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Visegrád Group in his comment piece Historic crises show the Visegrád Group is a good partner for the UK, published in a UK-based news and information platform, Emerging Europe. Ambassador Rzegocki highlighted the achievements of the V4 and the role of the four countries of the Visegrád Group as an important pillar of the European foreign policy of a post-Brexit Britain in the years to come. 

"It is the unbreakable Central-Eastern European spirit and solidarity that helps us overcome historic crises. It was the Autumn of Nations which brought down communism, starting in Poland and spreading to other nearby nations and elsewhere in the world. It is this spirit and unity that helped us rise from the economic and structural difficulties in the early 1990s to become the thriving region that we are today," wrote Ambassador Rzegocki.

"Today’s political, economic, security and cultural cooperation between the V4 countries and the United Kingdom reaches an unprecedented scale and intensity. The V4 countries count as the UK’s 10th largest trading partner, and they take pride in rapidly developing economies and a large inflow of foreign direct investment, of which a big share is from the UK."

"The V4 and the UK share numerous mutual interests, from foreign affairs, security, trade and economy to digitalisation, climate change, clean energy, research and education. But it is our peoples that underpin our close relations and sense of understanding. A record number of V4 citizens – some 900,000 Poles, more than 120,000 Hungarians, around 100,000 Slovaks and 80,000 Czechs – call Britain their home, while Britons far more often than before visit and settle down in one of these Central European countries," added the Polish Ambassador to the UK.

Ambassador Rzegocki also emphasised that unprecedented challenges brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic have proven that the V4 neighbours could count on each other in times of need.

"The V4 Centre for Covid-19 Information Exchange, which was set up in October last year, sees experts from the ministries of health and foreign affairs share information on healthcare management in the context of the pandemic, border traffic, air transport, as well as internal regulations and restrictions introduced by domestic laws. Exchange of best practices plays a key role in defeating the virus quicker and is an element of the current Polish presidency of the Visegrád Group," wrote Ambassador Arkady Rzegocki. 

The Visegrad Group was formed on 15th February 1991 at a meeting of the President of the Czechoslovak Republic, Václav Havel, the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Wałęsa, and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, József Antall. The formation of the Visegrad Group was motivated by four factors: the desire to eliminate the remnants of the communist bloc in Central Europe, the desire to overcome historic animosities between Central European countries; the belief that through joint efforts it will be easier to achieve the set goals, i.e. to successfully accomplish social transformation and join in the European integration process; and the proximity of ideas of the then ruling political elites.