Slovakia – V4 outsider/EU insider?
August 5th, 2017A left-wing columnist predicts that Slovakia will ultimately join the mainstream EU countries rather than remaining loyal to the Visegrád 4 group, of which it is a member.
Népszava’s Tamás Rónay interprets Slovakia’s decision to settle 60 refugees as proof of Bratislava’s wish to distance itself from Hungary and Poland. As such, he believes, it is a body blow to Viktor Orbán’s hope that the Visegrád 4 will stand united against demands from Brussels. Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia has assured the rest of the V4 that he still rejects compulsory migrant relocation quotas, but Rónay describes his gesture as corroborating rumours that the PM of Slovakia has secretly agreed with EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker to ‘soften up’ the position of the V4. Rónay believes that Slovakia also supports French President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to step up integration within the Eurozone of which Slovakia is a member. The Slovak leader will not sacrifice his country’s chance to be part of the continental élite in order to please Budapest and Warsaw, the commentator suggests. He also thinks that the current Czech government does not want to belong to the Budapest-Warsaw axis either. If the next elections there are won by the former finance minister Andrej Babis, as many predict, his economically liberal outlook will make him an improbable ally of Hungary and Poland – despite his fierce anti-quota rhetoric.
Tags: EU, migration, quotas, Visegrád 4