Geopolitics

The countries of the Visegrad Group altogether have the 5th largest economy in Europe, and the 12th largest in the world, and experts are beginning to call the region the new economic motor of the European Union. With their third largest population in the EU after Germany and France, the V4 has a great potential to grow. After the unfortunate historic split of Europe in the 16th century, after which Western Europe advanced on the way to prosperity and industrialization, and Central and Eastern Europe to economic stagnation, we may see a chance to bring the two parts of Europe together again.

In the first half of its history, the Visegrad Countries’ cooperation focused on accession into Euro-Atlantic structures. An objection to the original proposed strategic goals resulted resettling the key areas of the V4 cooperation, as the new Declaration stipulates: developing cooperation within the V4 and the EU, toward the NATO and other integrational organizations and partners. By accessing to the Schengen zone, the V4 achieved advanced integration within the EU, parallelly, by launching the International Visegrad Fund, the V4 aspired to strengthening ties within the area.

The Visegrad Group (V4) was established with the common vision that regional cooperation of the Central-European countries will lead to effectiveness and expediency on the path to Euro-Atlantic integration. Through the years, without a tight bound agreement, common budget or a robust institutional structure the V4 not only led its participants back to Europe but after some revitalization it proved that it has more potential as an instrument of joint advocacy in the international arena. It proved that the development and the success of an organization does not necessarily depend on its level of institutionalization and with its own open, flexible and informal institutionalized initiative it could became a highly respected “brand” of cooperation.

Visegrad is a symbolic place in Central Europe. The citadel of the picturesque settlement hosted a summit in 1335 where Casimir the Great of Poland, King John of Luxembourg of the Kingdom of Bohemia and King Charles Robert of Hungary pledged allegiance and struck an agreement on trade cooperation. This royal meeting not only settled relations between the parties concerned in a mature way but negotiated resolutions that belied the age, promising a prosperous common future.

The constellation known as the Visegrad Group has been widely regarded as the political success story of Central Europe, and even though it has experienced temporary setbacks as every long-term political project does, the V4 has been able to grow in scope and relevance even after its initial goals had been met. In the following chapters we will take a look at the major topics and themes which preoccupied – and gave purpose to – the V4 in different periods of its existence, the most important meetings and summits it held over the past thirty years.

This paper analyses the efforts made by the countries of the Visegrad Group against the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the respected countries’ vaccination plan, contracts negotiated with other states and private companies, in order to allocate the necessary amount of vaccines for the population, research plans and also the availability of their own facilities capable of producing larger amount of vaccines if needed.

President Trump’s policies under the slogan ‘America First’ have propelled major changes not only in US domestic affairs, but also on the global political theatre. The Trump administration effectively distanced itself from allies and foes alike, pursued aggressive trade policies across the globe, favoured immediate solutions over long-term strategies, and put the apparent interests of the United States before anything else.

The election of Joe Biden was met differently in Brussels, Moscow and Beijing. While Western Europe did not hide the fact that it was pleased about the election results of the 46th American president, Russia and China stayed cautious.