The prospects of V4 cooperation

A regional foreign policy expert wonders whether the Visegrád alliance can be expanded and developed into an even more important platform.

The close alliance of the Visegrad countries is cemented only by the migration crisis, Dániel Bartha, analyst of the Centre for Euro-Atlantic Integration and Democracy (CEID) think tank writes in Figyelő. Bartha remarks that V4 has gained importance as its Central European members realized their joint interest in resisting the migration proposals put forward by the EU leadership. Despite their otherwise less than smooth relations, he continues, the Visegrad countries could tighten their alliance (see BudaPost through February 2016) because disputes over migration have trumped all other political issues in the region. He doubts, however, that the V4 will in the long run prove to be an important platform. Firstly, because the alliance is dominated by Poland’s interests, and, secondly, because it will be maintained only as long as common interests concerning migration force member states to cooperate. Disputing a statement by PM Orbán who in his Tusnád speech this summer ruled out the possibility of broadening the V4 alliance, Bartha thinks that the V4 could be expanded into a broader network of Central and Eastern European states.

Tags: foreign affairs, Orbán, Visegrád 4