Nemeth: V4 ‘waves’ caused by Ukraine war disappearing

Over the past year, the grouping comprising Hungary, Czechia, Poland and Slovakia has been somewhat shaken by the war, Nemeth said after a meeting of V4 foreign affairs parliamentary committees, adding, however, that the cooperation was “doing well”.

Over the coming period, the V4 will focus on establishing more and more links between them “in the name of connectivity”, Nemeth said. The biggest beneficiaries of this, he said, would be southern Poland, northern Czechia, southern Slovakia and northern Hungary.

The grouping has seen significant accomplishments in recent years, and there are more projects nearing completion, such as the two new bridges on the river Danube, he said.

Another crucial task, Nemeth said, was presenting a united front to outside players such as the European Union. He noted as an example that the V4 had thwarted the implementation of migrant resettlement quotas in 2016.

All four countries will have greater influence if they can be united on issues on which they agree, he said.

One such issue discussed at Monday’s meeting was that of the Western Balkans, Nemeth said. He said the war had caused the EU to realise that the solution could be enlargement. This is reflected in the decision to start accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia as well as the granting of candidate country status to Ukraine, he added.