Press Advisories

21. 6. 201915:50

The Czech Republic takes over the V4 presidency from Slovakia

At the European Council in Brussels, Slovakia handed over the Visegrad Group presidency to the Czech Republic. The seventh Presidency in the independent Czech history will run from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2020.

The Visegrad Group was founded in 1991. The main purpose of the Visegrad cooperation at the time of its creation was mutual support in a joint effort to return to Euro-Atlantic structures. Even after joining NATO and the European Union, V4 remains a very important regional grouping for the Czech Republic. V4 is one of the pillars of our Central European policy and is regarded as a successful platform to support the further development of European cooperation.

Visegrad cooperation is not institutionalized, it works on a political level on the basis of regular meetings of its representatives at different levels – from presidents and prime ministers to expert consultations. The only organizational structure the V4 has had since 2000 is the International Visegrad Fund, which aims to financially support joint cultural, scientific, research and educational projects.

Members of the Visegrad Group regularly take turns in presiding the V4 every year. The V4 Presidency always runs from the beginning of July to the end of June of the following year. The motto of the Czech Presidency, which will officially start on 1 July, will be “V4 Reasonable Europe”. The Czech Republic will want to build on the ending Slovak Presidency and promote a rational, pragmatic and constructive approach to the current challenges and issues of the V4 countries and Europe over the next 12 months. The main objective will be to strengthen the position of the V4 countries in the EU and NATO, while strengthening the unity and coherence of these organizations. The Presidency’s priorities include the integration of the Western Balkan countries and the development of the Eastern Partnership, innovation and artificial intelligence, social and economic convergence, and cohesion policy.

During the Czech Presidency, traditional cooperation will exist at the levels of presidents, prime ministers, ministers, EU state secretaries and experts. In the spirit of the V4 openness, the Czech Republic will work on developing cooperation in the V4+ format and strengthen the V4 coalition potential within the EU. Therefore, it will focus primarily on communication with key European partners such as Germany, Austria, the Nordic and Baltic States and the Western Balkans.