30th anniversary of Visegrad cooperation
15.02.2021
Thirty years ago, on February 15, 1991, the presidents of Poland and the Czech Republic, and the prime minister of Hungary, signed the Declaration on Cooperation between the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Hungary in Striving for European Integration in the castle of Visegrad, Hungary.
The Declaration provided a political framework for extensive cooperation between Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary, and brought closer the societies of the three, and later four, countries. The original aim of cooperation was to strive for the full recovery of the states’ independence, democracy and liberty, eradication of symptoms of totalitarian regimes, construction of parliamentary democracy, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, the establishment of a free market economy, comprehensive participation in the European political and economic system, as well as security and legislative systems. The accession of our countries to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and later joining into the European Union symbolically closed this first stage and opened new perspectives for Visegrad cooperation.
Today, besides friendship and good neighborly cooperation, the Visegrad Group countries are also united by the awareness of common social and economic challenges, an understanding of the value of regional solidarity, and the willingness to realize common goals of both European and foreign policy.
From a 30-year perspective, the Visegrad Group became not only a symbol of the new united Europe and the successful political and economic transformation of the countries of the region, but also an example of an effective format of regional cooperation within the European Union that contributes to the shaping of European policies and to enhancing its economic competitiveness.
However, V4 is not only about political cooperation. One of the emblematic institutions of our cooperation is the International Visegrad Fund which, since its establishment in 2000, has granted nearly 2400 scholarships and supported almost 6000 projects by NGOs, local governments, scientists and artists, primarily across our four countries, but also in the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan states.
We are pleased that the Visegrad Group’s anniversary coincides with Poland’s presidency of the Group from July 2020 until June 2021.