The Polish presidency of the Visegrad Group will last until the end of June this year. On 9–10 February this year, the V4 presidents’ summit, dedicated to the reconstruction of the economies after the coronavirus pandemic, took place, and next week the presidents will meet on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Visegrad cooperation.

Today, Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin and representatives from the embassies of the Visegrad Group countries: Czech Republic – Jiři Kyrian, Slovakia – Andrej Droba, Hungary – László Marek Szubert spoke about the previous activities and plans of meetings under the Polish presidency.

Polish Prime Minister presented the economic situation in Poland, adding that the Polish government’s actions to date saved millions of jobs and that works are currently ongoing on the National Reconstruction Plan. Despite the freezing of part of the economy, Polish GDP fell by only 2.8% in 2020 and forecasts for 2021 predict an increase of up to 4%.

The economies of the V4 countries have recently been seen as a driving force for the European economy. This can be proved for example by looking at growth figures, where, until the general crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, our countries reported a 2.5–5% results (with an average of 1.5–2% for the European Union as a whole).

All the four of us are strong in trade: trading turnover of V4 with the world reflects around 10% of the EU’s global turnover, and at the same time it is similar (both in export and import) to European trading powers such as France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Visegrad Group is also an important player in the Single Market, and its member countries are the most important economic partners for Germany – even ahead of China and the USA.

The priority issues of the Polish Presidency, which we hope to be implemented within an enhanced cooperation of the V4 countries, include:

• reindustrialisation of Europe – restoring competitiveness for the European industry in a context of simultaneous global competition and energy transformation,
• EU strategic autonomy – providing the EU with the capacity to act independently and meet the basic needs of its citizens and the conditions for economic development based on its own resources in strategic areas,
• development of modern technologies – the development of the European mobility sector and the transformation of the automotive industry, as well as the automatisation and robotisation of industry, including the use of artificial intelligence.

Polish Prime Minister presented the action plans for the nearest future: a video conference on how to jointly implement projects in the area of technology and hydrogen systems using the IPCEI initiative; the 2030 Agenda Forum in the extended V4+ format (with Bulgaria and Romania) dedicated to sustainable development; conference on reconciling the ambition of green and digital transformation with the state of the EU economy following the economic recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic; meeting of the secretaries of state dedicated to the reconstruction of tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Visegrad Group is a joint and strong voice of the Central and Eastern Europe on the forum of the European Union

- added Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin.