BRATISLAVA, September 14, (WEBNOVINY) — The Visegrad Group (V4) is almost a “big girl” said Czech Foreign Affairs Minister Karel Schwarzenberg at a news conference after the meeting of foreign affairs ministers of the Visegrad Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) in Bratislava on Tuesday. He was referring to its age, as it was founded in 1991, nineteen years ago. This grouping is leaving behind certain illusions, typical for teenage girls. “We are adults, we have undergone some development. We have to work hard to prove ourselves,” he said. Schwarzenberg believes that V4 is more pragmatic than in the past. He underscored that our common future depends on mutual cooperation. According to him, the V4 development has been very good.
On Tuesday, V4 foreign affairs ministers discussed the preparation of EU financial prospect for the years 2014 to 2020, transatlantic relations, the missile defense system, and cooperation in diplomatic activities.
According to head of Slovak diplomacy Mikulas Dzurinda, priorities have to be agreed in the financial prospect. Only after that, the debate on distribution of EU funds can continue. He went on to say that the partners agreed that there is no alternative to the transatlantic dimension of security policy. “We want to be efficient members of NATO”, he added.
Dzurinda also pointed attention to the pilot program of a diplomatic Visegrad Embassy in Cape Town. The ministers have until mid-November to exchange written requests and offers to make foreign policy efficient.
Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Janos Martonyi appreciated Slovakia’s smooth taking over the V4 Presidency from Hungary in July. It seems that the V4 will not only persist, but gain new energy, he added. He stressed the essential political commitment of the Hungarian government to build a Slovak-Hungarian interconnection of natural gas pipelines, which should continue through our territory to the Adriatic.
According to Polish state secretary for European Affairs Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, V4 can prove during Hungary’s and Poland’s presidency over the EU in 2011 that it will be the driving force of the European Union.
SITA