Interviewed by LEDION VESHI
–Your Excellency, your country currently holds the Presidency of the Visegrad Group. The Visegrad group celebrates its 25th year of formation. Can you tell us a little bit about the idea behind this group and its objectives?
It was in 1335 when the King of Bohemia John of Luxembourg, King of Hungary Charles I Anjou and King of Poland Casimir III met at the Hungarian king’s residence in Visegrad to achieve a peace agreement between the Bohemian and Polish kings in the dispute over the lands under the Hungarian arbitration. The peace achieved among powerful kings in Central Europe opened the door to prosperity of the region benefiting its population. After 656 years, the descendants of the Czechs, Hungarians, Poles and Slovaks revived the history and on February 15, 1991 established a new platform of friendship and cooperation to jointly overcome the difficult past of the totalitarian regimes. Through exchange of experience and close cooperation, the Visegrad countries aimed at building democracy and market economy. Since its foundation, though, the major goals of V4 were the EU and NATO accession. There were doubts, that after joining NATO and the EU, the continuity of the V4 cooperation would fail, but in reality the opposite was true. Today, the V4 countries represent a strong alliance contributing through coordinated efforts not only to the formulation and implementation of NATO and EU policies, but also to the drafting and implementation of many regional policies enhancing the stability and economic growth of Central Europe and thus improving the quality of life of its citizens. The V4 countries even aspire to coordinate foreign policy, especially with regard to EU enlargement and NATO open door policies. Learning from their own experience, they understand that both processes are a major contribution to building a stable and democratic Europe.
– On this special 25th anniversary, what are the main achievements of this kind of cooperation in your opinion?
The V4 cooperation surely played an important role in the NATO and EU accession of each of the V4 countries. Especially after 1997, when Slovakia was excluded from the NATO invitation due to internal political circumstances in the country that were considered as not enough democratic by the international community, mutual support and exchange of experience in the pre-accession negotiations increased among V4 countries. In my opinion though, the continuous efforts of V4 members, even after reaching the main objective of the foundation of the Visegrad Group, to overcome differences and look jointly for solutions of common challenges, at the multilateral or only regional level, is the major achievement. The coordinated efforts in the energy security policies, interconnectivity, and building of digital market or recently in migration absolutely contribute to the stability of the Central Europe and prosperity of its citizens. A clear success of the V4 cooperation is also the foundation of the International Visegrad Fund assisting through its programmes, projects and scholarships to the development of people-to-people contacts within the region, as well as to strengthening the role of the civil society in the democratic governance of V4 countries. Mainly in the last 5 years, since the creation of NATO Smart Defence Concept, the security cooperation among the V4 countries enhanced and starts to bring the first important concrete results, for instance organization of joint military exercises, or establishment of first ever joint V4 Battle Group which shall be transformed into the permanent V4 military modular force.
-Do you think that the Visegrad group helped the process of European integration of each member country?
Learning from their own experience, the Visegrad countries strongly and constantly support the EU enlargement process believing it contributes to build a stable and democratic Europe. That is also why the countries of the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe stand in the focus of the Visegrad countries foreign policy. Visegrad countries support the EU integration process of aspirant countries not only politically, but also pragmatically. The special programmes of the International Visegrad Fund or the Expert Network on Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights between the V4 and the Western Balkans are some of the instruments serving to sharing experience from our own transition and EU accession process with Western Balkans countries. The V4 countries believe that the EU enlargement policy needs to be based on the principles of conditionality and merit-based individual performance in order for this policy to be effective and credible. At the same time, all candidate countries and potential candidates need to be measured with the same yardstick in the opinion of the V4.
– Is the Visegrad group a solid negotiating power within Brussels, does it help to have a united voice as a region in the EU?
Being a Member State of alliances like the NATO or EU, it would be rather difficult to impose to them any of the new policies of vital importance for the Czech Republic without the support of a few other states. Due to geopolitics, the interests of V4 countries are in many fields very close, and coordinated efforts towards the EU and NATO are crucial for succeeding. Through its 25 years of history, the Visegrad Group obtained a status of a respectable player in the EU. The enlargement policy, preservation of the cohesion policy, development of the energy security policy – including the preservation of the nuclear energy as the reliable source of the environmentally friendly energy, building of the Energy Union, establishment of the EU single digital market, establishment of the EU unified gas market, and taxes policies related to the fight against tax evasion are examples of policies the V4 pays close attention to in the EU framework. Own view on migration crises represents the latest significant topic the V4 promotes at the EU level, reflecting own situation in our countries, mutual solidarity, and rational approach to the European solution.
-Is the Visegrad group a model of cooperation that you could recommend to the countries of the Western Balkan?
I definitely believe that the V4 Group might be an example for the Balkan countries. Already the project of CEFTA established in 1992 by Visegrad countries was in its later stages extended to the Balkans and is now solely limited to the Balkans countries, after other CEFTA member joined the EU. It is of vital importance that the politicians in the region do understand that they do not need to have always the same opinion on certain issues, but they have to seek for joint solutions to common challenges because by cooperating together they make their countries stronger. Historically, there were animosities between the V4 countries, but in the atmosphere after the fall of the iron curtain in Europe, the V4 countries understood it at a very early stage that by strengthening mutual trust and solidarity and working closely together, they are stronger to reach the main objective – accession to the EU.
-The group already interacts with our region through various initiatives and even grants. Can you tell us a bit more about the impact and outcome of this interaction? Are we getting to know each other more?
At the political level, there are regular annual meetings between the V4 and Western Balkan foreign ministers contributing to the exchange of views on EU integration, the situation in the Western Balkans region, and on other important topics, as for example migration and the role of the Western Balkans at the last meeting of its kind in November 2015. The programmes of the International Visegrad Fund for the Western Balkans countries represent the major tool for concrete cooperation between the V4 and Western Balkans. Any non-state actor from Albania – NGO, academia, local government, research institute, cultural entity – may apply for the financing of a project in Albania implemented in cooperation with partners from at least 3 of the V4 countries. Any Albanian student may apply for the scholarship at any University in any of the V4 countries for Master or Post-Graduate studies covered by the International Visegrad Fund. Since the beginning of its existence, the Visegrad countries pay close attention to the civil society and its role in a healthy and functioning of society. In the end, it is exactly the International Visegrad Fund which made the V4 cooperation reputed and acknowledged among our own citizens. Visegrad grants and scholarships surely serve to get us to know each-other more, very often they serve also to share experiences from our transition and the EU integration. The International Visegrad Fund grants involving 3 Visegrad countries and 2 Western Balkans countries are of special importance. Those projects contribute also to concrete regional civil society cooperation in the Western Balkans. The success story of the International Visegrad Fund inspired the last Czech Presidency in 2011 – 2012 to promote the idea for the creation of the Western Balkans Fund upon the model and principles of the International Visegrad Fund and it was just last November, when the founding document for this fund was signed by Western Balkan foreign ministers in Prague.
-What are the main priorities of your country’s presidency of the Visegrad group?
Internal cohesion of the Visegrad Group, energy security, enlargement policy, defence cooperation, infrastructure development, digital agenda and fight against tax evasion are the main areas in the focus of the Czech V4 Presidency. Each of those priorities follows general policies elaborated by previous Presidencies and aspires to achieve some concrete results during our Presidency. Strengthening of cooperation among the V4 parliaments or building the V4 brand through enhanced cooperation among public medias or in tourism belong for example to some of the initiatives contributing to the development of internal cohesion of the Visegrad Group. Energy security policy of the V4 countries is realized mostly in the framework of the EU policies, whereas building of the Energy Union belongs to high V4 priorities. The establishment of the Western Balkan Fund is one of the ambitions in the framework of the enlargement policy priority of our Presidency and we are happy we follow already the process of ratification of the founding document of this Fund. Coordinated efforts in preparation of the NATO Warsaw summit in July resulting in concrete contributions to the Summit by the V4 is another important task of the Czech Presidency.
-And finally what is your position on the perspective of the Western Balkan joining the EU? The current situation seems not quite favourable with multiple crisis holding the EU attention and resources elsewhere far from enlargement issues. Is there reason to be hopeful?
The enlargement process is a living process contributing not only to the stability of the Western Balkans, but to the European Union as well. The recent migration crisis clearly shows that the Western Balkans countries are part of looking commonly for EU solutions although they are not EU members. The Western Balkans countries are in Europe and following the EU path is a natural evolution. Speed of the EU accession of the Western Balkans countries depends mainly on the speed of the reform processes requested by the Copenhagen criteria. Albania for example has to approve and implement as soon as possible mainly the justice reform as it is not only one of the key priorities to be fulfilled for the opening of the accession negotiations, but also the key for fighting corruption, organised crime, attracting investments and strengthening the confidence of Albanian citizens in state institutions. It is important to see that the reforms and use of EU standards play a crucial role in the improvement of daily lives of citizens which is a process timeless to the crisis occupying now the EU attention.
