Why Not Reject Visegrad?
Vít Dostál
/ Ed. 2. 7. 2017
With launching the infringement procedure against the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland for non-compliance with their obligations related to the refugee relocation scheme, the Visegrad Group (V4) hits the headlines of main news portals. What is the shape of the Visegrad Group nearly two years after it has started its fight against the binding relocations? Why it cannot (or does not want to) get rid of the trouble maker’s label and why we should keep it, despite its poor image?
The chat between V4 foreign ministers at Bratislava Globsec conference (minus Czech foreign minister Zaorálek, who sent his deputy) offered a picture which says a lot about the current shape of the regional grouping. The first half of the conversation was full of ministers’ complaints on how the perception of the V4 as the EU’s main trouble maker is inaccurate and exaggerated. Ministers stressed that it was rather the Netherlands (which blocked the EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine), or Greece (which caused serious problems in Eurozone), and not the Visegrad Group countries. Their only “sin”, they argued, had been that the four object to the binding relocation scheme.
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