In the past few months of the war in Ukraine, cracks have also become noticeable in the so-called Visegrad Group.
While Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic support Ukraine, Hungary keeps a strict distance from the western war drive and values its neutrality. Now the Visegrad heads of state met in person for the first time after a year and a half – and tried to reach unity.
At a V4 press conference on October 11 in Bratislava, Czech President Zeman stated that the V4 are at least as important, if not more so, than the Benelux countries. The group has shown in the past that it can work, especially when it comes to fighting illegal immigration. Zeman also called on Slovenia to join the V4 format.
The Czech president criticised the EU’s Green Deal, which is contributing to the high energy prices in Europe. “Renewable resources must be backed by conventional sources,” Zeman said. Czechia is one of the most energy dependent EU member states on Russia.
Zeman took the opportunity to meet with Slovak ex-premier and Smer-SD party leader Robert Fico, as well as parliamentary speaker Boris Kollar, leader of the governing We are Family party, Zeman’s spokesperson Jiri Ovcacek said on Twitter.
Hungarian President Katalin Novák underlined that the four countries form the center of modern Central Europe. In the current conflict, the Visegrad Group’s aim is to achieve a just peace as quickly as possible and to ensure that Europe remains an island of peace.
https://freewestmedia.com/2022/10/17/visegrad-is-more-important-than-benelux-countries/