During the Polish Presidency an anniversary summit of the V4 Presidents was held on the Hel Spit, 20 meetings of the V4 Prime Ministers, 9 meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, over 40 meetings at the level of constitutional ministers heading other ministries, as well as 12 high-level parliamentary meetings (at the level of the Presidents of the Parliaments and individual parliamentary committees).

The Deputy Minister emphasized that the Polish presidency coincided with the difficult period of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this topic naturally dominated the first period of the presidency. In October 2020, the V4 Virtual Centre for COVID-19 was established, which allowed for better coordination of pandemic control activities between our countries. The Minister expressed his satisfaction that this initiative will be continued by the Hungarian V4 Presidency. However, in the context of the pandemic, we focused not only on improving cooperation within the group, but also on solidarity with our closest partners. During the Polish Presidency, the second edition of the V4 East Solidarity Programme was implemented in the Eastern Partnership countries, with the resources from the International Visegrad Fund, within the framework of which we supported local capacities to combat the pandemic, the Minister added.

- The main area of practical cooperation of V4 continued to be the consultations on the European agenda. In this context, the Visegrad Group was active, for example, in the area of Eastern policy. It is worth emphasizing here that, on Poland's initiative, V4 proposed the preparation of an EU Economic Plan for a Democratic Belarus. The initiative was accepted by the European Council in October last year, and at the end of May this year the European Commission prepared a comprehensive offer. The initiative of Poland and V4 thus became an EU initiative.

The culminating element of the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the Visegrad cooperation, which coincided with the second part of the Polish Presidency of the V4, was the meeting of the Prime Ministers of the V4 countries organized on February 17, 2021 in Cracow, Poland. During the summit the Heads of Government of the V4 countries adopted a concrete and ambitious anniversary declaration, which not only summarises the successes of 30 years of cooperation but also outlines the main areas of mutual cooperation for the future. The Prime Ministers also signed a declaration on mutual cooperation in digital projects. As a result, the first meeting of the V4 Virtual Office for Digital Projects was convened - the project will continue during the Hungarian V4 Presidency. The Prime Ministers also decided to increase the budget of the International Visegrad Fund (IVF) to EUR 10 million per year (starting from 2022), which will allow for further strengthening of relations and mutual understanding between the societies of our four countries as well as development of youth mobility.

List of the most important initiatives of the Polish Presidency:

• COVID-19 - establishment of a virtual V4 Centre for COVID-19, V4 East Solidarity Programme;
• Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) - coordination of V4 positions and activities in the sphere of negotiations and programming of the new financial perspective, with particular emphasis on the cohesion policy and the European Recovery Plan;
• Eastern policy: economic plan for a democratic Belarus; statements by V4 prime ministers on the poisoning of A. Navalny (12.09.2020) and sabotage at an ammunition depot in the Czech Republic (26.04.2021), joint statement of V4 foreign ministers on the Eastern Partnership after the virtual meeting of V4+EaP heads of diplomacy (29.04.2021);
• Migration policy: V4+EE+SI Common Position on the new Pact on Migration and Asylum (10.12.2020)

Future of Visegrad cooperation:

Anniversary declaration of the V4 Prime Ministers, outlining the main areas of the V4 cooperation for the future and including a decision, among others, on increasing the budget of the International Visegrad Fund by ¼ to EUR 10 million annually in order to strengthen the cooperation of the Visegrad youth (within the framework of the slogan "Generation V4"), as well as on the need to strengthen cooperation in the area of crisis management, civil protection and "soft security";

Digital cooperation: Declaration on mutual cooperation on digital projects (17.02.2021) - on the basis of it, the first meeting of the V4 Virtual Office for Digital Projects was held in June this year;

• Infrastructure: a joint list of key infrastructure projects from the perspective of V4 in the context of the revision of the European TEN-T network: CPK, Via Carpatia, high-speed railroad linking capitals of V4 states, improvement of navigability of waterways connecting our countries; 3.12.2020); other initiatives in this area: joint statement of V4 ministers for transport on cooperation in the development of railway transport development (18.06.2021); non-paper V4+BG, RO, HR on the Multiannual Work Programme for the Connecting Europe Facility - Transport; non-paper V4+HR+MT+RO+SI on technical and administrative support for the Member States benefiting from the cohesion policy under the Connecting Europe Facility - Transport;
• Climate and Environment: a number of initiatives aimed at safeguarding Polish and Visegrad interests within the framework of climate and energy policy: joint letters of prime ministers and ministers of environment of the V4+ states concerning the Fit for 55 Package, the role of nuclear energy or the assessment of the impact of the EU climate goals until 2030 on individual states; altogether, during the Polish Presidency a dozen or so meetings at ministerial and expert level were held in this area;
• Western Balkans: supporting the European aspirations of the states of the Western Balkans, a region important from the perspective of the stability and security of Europeans (joint statement of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the V4 regarding the Western Balkans, following the meeting of the heads of diplomacy in the V4+BZ format in Poznań and Rogalin (28.06.2021), V4+AT non-paper regarding the participation of the states of the Western Balkans in the Conference on the Future of Europe, May 2021);
• Defence cooperation: commencement of preparations for the Visegrad Battle Group to undertake its next duty in 2023 (in June this year, the V4 Chiefs of Staff and Defence signed a memorandum of understanding, which creates a legal basis for the establishment of the Battle Group and defines the principles of its operation; Poland once again plays the role of the leading state in the Battle Group and assigns the operation command); Work on the certification of the Joint Logistics Support Group command, common with the V4 countries, within NATO; updating of the V4 Training and Exercise Strategy; a joint procurement of the V4 armed forces for pistol ammunition through the allied NSPA Agency, signing of a letter of intent by the V4 Defence Ministers regarding the establishment of cooperation between military academies of the V4 and the V4. o Promotion of the Family: Ministers of Defence of the V4 signed a letter of intent on establishing cooperation of military academies in the field of strategic communication;
• Family promotion: V4 Ministers of Family and Social Policy adopted a pro-family declaration - PRO FAMILIA (13.05.2021).
• Economy: organization of the 2030 Agenda Forum with the participation of development/economy ministers in the V4+BG and RO format (2.06.2021), joint communiqué of V4 economy ministers stressing, among others, the importance of the Single Market and fighting protectionism (23.09.2020);
• Culture: awarding of the Visegrad Prize to the National Cultural Centre (decision of V4 Culture Ministers of 23.04.2021; presentation of the prize will take place during the HU V4 PRES);
• Agriculture: joint declaration of V4+BG, HR, RO and SI ministers of agriculture regarding the "from farm to fork" strategy (21.04.2021), joint declaration of V4+BG, HR, EE, LT, LV, RO, SI ministers of agriculture regarding CAP reform (09.2020);
• Finance: joint letter of V4 Finance Ministers regarding EU taxonomy (15.04.2021), joint declaration of V4 Finance Ministers regarding cooperation in the area of finance (4.09.2020).

Hungary assumed the Presidency of the Group on 1 July 2021.

 

 

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Photo: Daniel Gnap / KPRM