The heads of government of Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland agreed on key issues relating to the crisis in Ukraine: that the territorial unity of Ukraine must be preserved and that the war raging in that country must be stopped as soon as possible , and that Russia cannot pose a threat to Europe. The heads of government of the countries of the Visegrad Group (V4) met at the summit in Kosice (Slovakia) today, November 24, after a break of more than six months. Issues relating to Ukraine, the energy crisis, illegal immigration and relations with EU funds were discussed.
The heads of government of the V4 countries called the cooperation of the Visegrad Four countries important and necessary for the future and stressed that, despite the differences in positions on some issues, everyone judges the war in Ukraine basically the same.
Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Moravecki, who called the V4 meeting extremely constructive, said that although recently we have heard mainly about the differences in views of the Visegrad group countries, it was confirmed at the Kosice meeting that the Visegrad partners really need to each other. “Visegrad countries have always been winners when they stick together,” Morawiecki said.
The Polish prime minister stressed that he and his partners agreed that “the war in Ukraine must end as soon as possible”, while maintaining the country’s territorial integrity. He noted that, as a result of the war, new waves of refugees from Ukraine should be expected and, in this context, Morawiecki called on the European Commission to take preliminary steps to deal with this wave of refugees and help the affected countries more. He also spoke about the growing illegal migration from the south, which he described as a major challenge.
The Polish prime minister said that during the meeting there was a lot of talk about EU funds, the distribution of which, he said, “isn’t right for some of us, but it should be right”. Morawiecki said: “We believe that the EU leadership should look at all member states equally.”
Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Peter Fila he stated that he is convinced that V4 cooperation has sense and future and will continue at ministerial level. He said that the Kosice meeting was important and “we managed to have an open dialogue on issues on which there are different positions” and, in respect of the latter, an agreement was reached on the most important issues affecting the Ukraine, including “the need to preserve the territorial integrity of Ukraine” and providing it with military and financial assistance.
Fiala said there are also energy problems. “We want energy prices not to affect our countries, we want to increase the sustainability of energy systems and we want to get rid of Russia’s energy dependency,” she said.
In turn, the Prime Minister of Slovakia Edward Heger said he has turned to his V4 partners for help in overcoming the health crisis in his country in the context of the fact that the Slovakian government has not yet been able to reach a final agreement with medical unions which are making demands for higher wages high for healthcare professionals, with the result that more than 2,000 doctors have tendered their resignations.
