Visegrad

The Visegrad Cooperation within the European Union is a regional organization of four Central European member states: the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. The cooperation aims to jointly represent the economic, diplomatic, and political interests of these countries and coordinate their possible actions. All four member states joined the European Union on May 1, 2004. 

Despite the efforts of various political parties in the European Parliament, the elections to the EP are first and foremost national elections, and as Enrico Letta remarked, they will be \"a sum of national, domestic debates in a frame named European elections.\" As such the EU member states also differ in the campaigns and the narratives mostly used before the June votes.

Together, the V4 countries are the fifth largest economy in Europe and 12th globally. The region would rank as the 22nd most populous country in the world and 4th in Europe (64 million people) with most people living in Poland (38 million), followed by the Czech Republic (11 million), Hungary (10 million), and Slovakia (5.5 million).

The new conflict with the Russian regime, which is reviving its Soviet ambitions, has unified Europe and reminded the countries in the V4 region to realign its interest as well as economic solutions away from the East (Russia and China), and back to the Western Europe and the U.S. spheres of influence.

Free press and freedom of speech are among democracy’s essential prerequisites; however, they should not be taken for granted. Published by the Republikon Institute, with the support of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, The State of the Media in the Visegrád Countries provides a detailed insight into the media status in Central Europe.

The Visegrád Cooperation is not nearly as united and indissoluble as the Hungarian Government wishes to present it. Member states often have conflicting interests which are pursued to the detriment of each other and cooperation.

Looking at the results in the V4 countries (Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary) helps gain a better understanding of the popularity of liberals. In the 2019 European elections, liberal parties performed quite well, especially in light of the popularity of the far-right in the region.

The new concept of a future 4.0 factory was presented at the Hannover trade fair for the first time already in 2011. It promised a new way of production that will be flexible, effective and ready to mass produce individualized products with lower demand for a human labour force. Download Full Study The economic convergence […]

Automotive industry plays one of the most important roles in economies of the Visegrad Group countries. The sector became the regional leader in export and a reason for close ties among countries. Hyundai Kia in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is a textbook example of how one company ignores artificial national borders.