Hungary takes over V4 presidency

This Monday, following a meeting between the prime ministers of the Visegrád (V4) Group and those of the BeNeLux countries in the Polish capital, Warsaw, Poland officially handed over the presidency of the V4 group to Hungary.

In his speech at the event, Viktor Orbán asked his fellow prime ministers that – in addition to encouraging economic cooperation, building diplomatic relations and increasing the standing of the four countries – they should also place emphasis on the younger generation, establish scholarships and organize apprenticeship programs.

“Let us enable the younger generation to also experience what we call being Central European”, the Prime Minister urged, adding that in the long term Central Europe could remain Europe’s most rapidly developing region. “We will be devote Hungary’s one-year presidency of the V4 to this goal”, he said in closing.

As regards the program and priorities of the Hungarian Presidency, it was István Mikola, State Secretary for Security Policy and International Cooperation in the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Affairs, who shed some light on these issues at the ‘Visegrád Four and Germany’ conference organized in Berlin this May by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). There, the State Secretary underlined that the most important task of Central Europe is to preserve the security and stability of the region "in an increasingly less stable environment" and to ensure economic competitiveness with "innovative" solutions.

This also defines the program of the Hungarian V4 Presidency, a key element of which is the common, Central European contribution to the strategic debate on the future of Europe.

The second element of the V4 Presidency program is to strengthen security and stability through the management of the migration crisis, István Mikola said, stressing that Germany is still a very important partner for achieving the goals of the V4 Group.

The third major point of the program is the contribution to improving the interconnection and interconnectivity of transport and energy transmission networks. Another key objective of the Hungarian Presidency is to strengthen the economic competitiveness of the region through the stimulation of digitization and R&D, and to deepen the V4 Group's contacts with European and global partners through continuing political dialogue and projects based on common interests.