Annual Report Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic 2008

Slovakia and the V4
Meeting of the V4 Prime
Ministers, Warsaw,
November 2008
In the course of 2008, the Visegrad Four (V4)
developed its cooperation not only within its
very region (e.g. in the development of infrastructure,
environmental issues, cross-border
cooperation, support of education and cultural
activities via the International Visegrad Fund),
but it also began to focus beyond the region’s
borders, especially in the discussion on the climate
and energy package, the strengthening of
the eastern vector of the European Neighbourhood
Policy, or even in coordinating the provision
of development assistance to third countries. The
V4 displayed a growing attractiveness for other
regional groupings and countries (for example
the B3 – the Baltic countries; Ukraine, Belarus,
Romania, Japan and Israel) and its ability to act in
participating in European policies. This confirmed
not only the ability of the V4 countries to formulate
their positions and shape European policies,
but also emphasized the cooperativeness and
proximity of the positions and the consonance of
the interests of V4 countries.
The joint approach of the V4 + B3 + Bulgaria +
Romania in the negotiations on the climate and
energy package represents a very positive signal.
These countries decided that they will advocate a
common solution for protecting the climate, but
which does not endanger their economies. They
agreed on the exchange of information from the
bilateral drafts which were proposed during the
negotiations on the climate and energy package
in the run up to the EU summit in December 2008.
They jointly promoted maintaining the reference
date for greenhouse gas emissions to 1990.
As of yet, the V4 has not been able to achieve
more significant progress in coordinating the
process of promoting candidacies for the seat of
the institutions as well as for individual positions
within these institutions. The Polish V4 Presidency
(1 July 2008 – 30 June 2009) declared its interest
in making progress in this field. In 2008, three of
the four Visegrad countries aspired for the seat of
the European Institute of Innovation and Technology
(Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, and Poland) which
was finally granted to Hungary. On the other hand,
the support of the nomination of former Polish
President Lech Walesa as a joint V4 candidate to
the EU Reflection Group represents a positive example
of candidacy coordination within the V4.
From left to right the Prime
Minister of Slovakia Robert
Fico, the Prime Minister of
Hungary Ferenc Gyurcsány,
the Prime Minister of Latvia
Ivars Godmanis, the Prime
Minister of Bulgaria Sergei
Stanishev, the President of
France Nicolas Sarkozy, the
Prime Minister of Poland
Donald Tusk, the Prime
Minister of Estonia Andrus
Ansip, the Prime Minister
of Lithuania Gediminas
Kirkilas, the Prime Minister
of Romania Calin Popescu-
Tariceanu and the Deputy
Prime Minister of the Czech
Republic Alexander Vondra
at the press conference of
the V4 Prime Ministers,
the Baltic states, Romania,
and Bulgaria with the
participation of the
President of France Nicolas
Sarkozy in Gdansk (Poland),
December 2008
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