Visegrád group
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Political map in 2004 |
The
Visegrád Group (also called the
Visegrád 4 or
V4) is an alliance of four
Central European states:
*
Poland*
Czech Republic*
Slovakia*
HungaryThe
Visegrád Group originated in a summit of the heads of state or government of
Czechoslovakia,
Hungary and
Poland held in the Hungarian city of
Visegrád on
February 15,
1991, to establish co-operation between these three states (which, with the division of Czechoslovakia, became four) in order to further the process of
European integration. All four members of the Visegrád group entered the
European Union on
May 1,
2004. The only institution of the Visegrad co-operation is the
International Visegrad Fund, established in 1999, with the seat in
Bratislava. According to a decision of the prime ministers, the Fund has an annual budget of 3 million Euros from 2005 onwards.
The name of the Group is derived from a
meeting of the Bohemian, Polish and Hungarian rulers in the Hungarian city of Visegrád in
1335.
Charles I of Hungary,
Casimir III of Poland and the Bohemian king
John of Luxembourg agreed to create new commercial routes to bypass the
staple port Vienna and obtain easier access to other European markets. No "group" was created at that time, however. A
second meeting took place in 1339.
After
Slovenia, the Visegrád group are the wealthiest post-Communist countries in Europe. All of them have relatively developed free market economies and have enjoyed moderate economic growth.
The presidency of the Visegrád group changes each year, in June.
1999-2000 Czech Presidency
2000-01 Polish Presidency
2001-02 Hungarian Presidency
2002-03 Slovak Presidency
2003-04 Czech Presidency
2004-05 Polish Presidency
2005-06 Hungarian Presidency (Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
2006-07 Slovak Presidency?
(1) The continually expanding Visegrád Scholarship Programme awards grants from the International Visegrád Fund for postgraduate studies at a V4 university. As of 2005, grants will also be awarded to 32 young Ukrainians for one year of postgraduate studies at a V4 university.
(2) In 2002,
Hungary initiated establishment of an Expert Working Group on Energy. This expert group meets once or twice/year in V4 capitals on a rotation basis, and the head of the host country delegation always chairs the meeting.
On 27 April 2006, the V4 WG on Energy met in
Prague with the aim of discussing recommendations for V4 energy ministers concerning topics negotiated at ministerial level meetings. The WG elaborated recommendations concerning four groups of problems:
· Recommendations of general nature in the sphere of
energy policy, incl. energy R&D.
· Recommendation to consider development of emergency
natural gas storage.
· Recommendation to consider construction of new gas and oil
pipelines and of new naval LNG terminals.
· Recommendations in the field of interconnecting
power transmission grids.
*
Cooperation of Visegrád Four Member Countries (V-4) in energy*
Visegrad Group official homepage*
International Visegrad Fund official homepage*
European Quartet official homepage*
EU Business*
The European Union
