Visegrád Four

Hungarian FM: the Visegrád Group is the EU’s closest, most effective alliance

visegrád group V4 economy

The Visegrád Group (V4) is the closest and most effective alliance in the European Union, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, told a V4 conference on Friday.

The V4 has a voice that is heard across Europe and beyond, and it has become an important player in shaping European political affairs, Szijjártó told the conference of V4 house speakers held in Parliament.

The V4 has gained an important role in protecting Christian values, he said, adding that Christian traditions, culture and identity had come under attack.

“We cannot allow this to continue, because we know what Christianity has given to us and what it means to stick to our traditions and legacy,” he said.

V4 has become “a brand”, he said, adding that every time the group’s prime ministers meet, the whole of Europe’s political elite and press pay attention.

Addressing the conference, Hungarian Speaker of Parliament László Kövér said that a long-term solution had to be found to the migration crisis that affects the day-to-day life of Europeans at a fundamental level. A solution must be found that pre-empts migration pressure faced by Europe instead of distributing it, he said, adding that the speakers had agreed that their countries should urge the drafting of a comprehensive migration strategy at parliamentary level, taking into account national interests and national security.

Hungarian foreign minister meets Central Asian counterparts

Visegrád Four Central Asia

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó held talks with his Tajik and Kyrgyz counterparts in Budapest on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said.

They attended the foreign ministerial meeting of the Visegrád Group and Central Asia.

Szijjártó discussed the security situation in Europe with Tajik deputy Foreign Minister Muzaffar Huseynzoda, the ministry said.

With its 1,300km border with Afghanistan, Tajikistan plays a crucial role in European security, the officials agreed. Recognising the importance of preventing a flow of migrants and terrorists from Afghanistan into Europe, Hungary will urge the EU to earmark more border protection funding for Tajikistan in its next seven-year budget cycle, the ministry said in a statement.

Szijjártó earlier in the day held talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Erlan Abdyldaev.

The officials discussed opportunities for Hungarian companies to participate in water industry projects, including the construction of reservoirs and hydropower plants as well as water purification plants in Central Asia, the ministry said in a statement.

The two ministers agreed to begin talks on concluding accords on double taxation avoidance and investment protection to allow Hungarian pharmaceutical and farm technology companies greater access to the Kyrgyz market.

Szijjártó met with Kairat Abdrakmanov, the foreign minister of Kazakhstan, later in the day. Kazakhstan is a strategic partner to Hungary as the largest and strongest country in central Asia and as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Szijjarto told a press conference after the meeting. Kazakhstan also has substantial energy resources, he said.

Abdrakmanov said Kazakhstan sees Hungary as a strategic partner and a close ally.

He named the energy industry, agriculture, logistics and tourism as particularly promising fields of cooperation.

The ministers signed a cooperation agreement for the years 2018-2019.

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Hungarian, Kyrgyz foreign ministers hold talks

Kyrgyzistan Foreign Ministry cooperation

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó held talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Erlan Abdyldaev in Budapest on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said.

Abdyldaev attended the foreign ministerial meeting of the Visegrád Group and Central Asia.

The officials discussed opportunities for Hungarian companies to participate in water industry projects,

including the construction of reservoirs and hydropower plants as well as water purification plants in Central Asia, the ministry said in a statement.

The two ministers agreed to begin talks on concluding accords on double taxation avoidance and investment protection to allow Hungarian pharmaceutical and farm technology companies greater access to the Kyrgyz market.

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Szijjártó calls for ‘bridge’ between V4, Central Asia

foreign affairs Visegrád Group Central Asia

“A bridge should be built between the Visegrád countries and Central Asia” to facilitate mutually beneficial cooperation in terms of politics, economy, and security, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Tuesday.

Speaking after a meeting of V4 foreign ministers and their counterparts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, Szijjártó said that the two regions have similar challenges and they are similarly committed to fighting religious radicalism and terrorism. They also have similar positions concerning stemming illegal migration, the foreign minister added.

Szijjártó also noted that Central Asia has significant amounts of raw materials and cooperation offers opportunities for joint water management projects, too.

The foreign minister said the meeting was the first of its kind, but suggested that similar conferences could be held in the future. He said that an objective of Hungary’s V4 presidency was to “make it clear to the European Union that it needs external allies and friends” so that the community can “regain its due position in the world economy”.

On another subject, Szijjártó suggested that the Hungarian government should launch an information campaign concerning the United Nation’s migration package.

“The people must be warned that there is a dangerous proposal, aimed at determining migration policies at the global level,” he argued.

“The UN wants all countries to accommodate migrants on a continuous basis because migration is good and cannot be stopped; they want the (border) fence to be pulled down because it hinders immigration and that illegal border crossing should not be considered as a criminal offence,” Szijjártó insisted. Further, he said that the UN seeks recognition for the right to migrate as a fundamental human right, “whereas it is not”. The UN wants to “exert great pressure on countries that do not wish to become migrant destinations,” Szijjártó said. He added that the objectives of the migrant package are in line with the “Soros plan”.

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Hungarian FM protests against EU attitude at UN talks on migration

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Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, has sent an official letter of protest to Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, because the EU delegation to the talks on the United Nations‘ global migration package had presented a position that lacked consensus within the EU28 bloc.

Hungary expects Mogherini to prevent the recurrence of such “unprecedented and scandalous” instances and give an explanation for what happened, Szijjártó told a press conference in Budapest on Saturday.

No matter what pressure Hungary is exposed to, the country will hold to its position and continue to defend its southern border, keep the fence in place and prevent the inflow of illegal migrants, he said.

Now that talks on the package have started, there is a growing international pressure on Hungary to change its approach to migration. As the basic proposition of the UN package runs counter to Hungary’s interests, the government had considered quitting the talks before. But after consultations with the Visegrad Group partners it decided to stay and try to modify the package, Szijjártó said.

The European Union can only represent a common position on an international issue if not only a majority but all the 28 member states agree on it.

The head of the EU delegation to the New York talks, however, presented a “common position” then sought to pressurize the Hungarian diplomat in charge not to expound the position of the Hungarian government, the minister said.

This affair demonstrates that “nothing deters” the European Union from imposing its immigration policy on Hungary, Szijjártó said.

The minister announced that he would personally put forward the Hungarian position in the next round of UN talks scheduled for March 12.

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Human resources minister highlights V4 cooperation in health care

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Hungary’s human resources minister highlighted cooperation among members of the Visegrád Group in health care at a conference of health ministers of the four countries in Budapest on Friday.

Addressing the event, Zoltán Balog emphasised the importance of joint action by the V4 in addressing pharmaceutical policy issues, as well as the development of basic health-care services and combatting dietary related diseases.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have already taken initial steps towards cooperation on fair drug pricing as well as the joint purchase of vaccines and innovative drugs, he said.

The four countries have good potential to cooperate in developing their basic medical services and GP networks, Balog added.

He further encouraged dialogue on prospective cooperation in the areas of nutritional health, responses to drug resistance, e-health services and campaigns to promote healthy living, as well as the management of private health data.

Balog applauded the recently introduced electronic data administration in Hungarian health care as a great “innovation”, and offered to share Hungary’s related experiences with the other V4 countries.

At the conference a statement was signed by Balog, the Czech health minister, the Polish deputy health minister and Slovakia’s state secretary for health care on strengthening cooperation in fighting non-contagious chronic illnesses and juvenile obesity.

V4 sign declaration on defence cooperation

The Visegrád Group countries — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — have made a joint declaration on stepping up defence cooperation.

The declaration was signed by the leaders of the four countries’ parliamentary defence committees in Budapest on Thursday.

Szilárd Németh, the Hungarian committee’s head, said

the V4 should focus on increasing security and stability in the region, and serving peace and prosperity.

Strengthening defence cooperation is a crucial condition for that, he said.

Migration and the four countries’ approach to it stood in the limelight of the session, Németh said. The four countries’ lawmakers agreed that migration is a harmful phenomenon and that they would make every possible effort to thwart its legalisation.

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Parliament head of the defence committee: V4 countries demonstrate that illegal migration can be stopped

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Members of the Visegrád Group have demonstrated for the world that illegal migration can be halted, the head of the defence committee of the Hungarian parliament said in Budapest on Thursday.

Addressing a meeting of V4 defence committees, Szilárd Németh said that “various organisations, political and economic forces and lobbyists” try to “push the view through the European Union and the UN” that migration is “a good thing”. Arguing that illegal migration is unstoppable, they intend to legalise it, he insisted.

Cooperation between the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia has proved since 2015 that the problem can be resolved, Németh said, adding that

although “there are still attempts” to cross these countries illegally, statistics show that the migration pressure has plummeted.

Hungary and the Visegrád Group have shown the world “how to cooperate, help each other and stand in solidarity,” Németh said. Lack of solidarity is a reproach often laid at Hungary’s door, he said. Solidarity, however, should be exercised not towards migrants but towards Europe, he said.

“Our priority is to preserve peace and calm in Europe and protect its security,” he said.

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Orbán’s cabinet: Spain, Portugal, V4 have similar positions on EU budget

Spain and Portugal have similar positions to the Visegrad countries concerning the European Union’s budget, a state secretary of the Hungarian prime minister’s office said on Friday.

Szabolcs Takács spoke to MTI by phone following talks with Spanish and Portuguese officials in charge of EU affairs concerning preparations for the community’s next budgeting period.

“The positions are very similar; we all think that the European Union needs to identify targets and then define the size of the budget,” he said.

Takács said the cardinal question was how the EU can patch up the hole in the budget caused by Brexit, and added that all participants in the talks expressed readiness to increase their EU contributions if necessary. Parties at the talks agreed that the bloc’s cohesion or common agricultural policies should not be harmed by Brexit, he added.

Takacs noted that Brexit impacts Portugal and Spain similarly to Hungary, having large expatriate communities in the United Kingdom.

“We are all interested in reaching an agreement which is fair both for the Brits and the EU,” he said.

Spain, Portugal, and Hungary also have similar positions concerning the importance of controlling the external borders of the EU, Takács said. The three countries have a shared interest in ensuring that the migration issue is handled outside the EU’s borders and that free movement within the bloc is maintained, he added.

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CAP to be upheld after 2020

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The European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) should clearly demonstrate its benefits for European citizens even after 2020, a Hungarian government official said at a joint session of the farm committees of the Visegrád Four parliaments in Budapest on Thursday.

György Czerván, state secretary at the ministry of agriculture, noted that CAP had been instrumental in creating the single market.

Its primary goals are still relevant and should not be overridden by others such as those of the EU’s migration policy, he said, adding that funding should continue to flow to the farmers.

The session is focussing on ongoing CAP reforms, double standards in food production and unfair trade practices, Sándor Font, head of the Hungarian committee, said.

The parties have signed a joint statement at the end of the meeting to be sent to EU leaders and the member states’ heads of parliament. The statement calls for the present subsidiary system to be left unchanged, Font said. This system guarantees safe and affordable food supply for all European citizens, and should not be curbed to channel funds into solving the migration crisis, as some states have proposed, the statement said.

Orbán: ‘We must protect our Christian culture’

viktor orbán talk Veszprém prime minister

It is important for Hungarians to protect their Christian culture, the prime minister said in an interview published by the local daily Veszprémi 7 Nap on Thursday.

“We must protect the culture in which all Hungarians feel at home; and this is called, no matter whether someone is religious or not, Christian culture”, Viktor Orbán told the paper.

Commenting on the United Nations’ recent migration plan, Orbán said migration is a mass movement of people that poses danger.

Hungary’s position is that migration must be quelled instead of being supported and this must be championed not only at European forums, but at the UN’s level as well, he added.

Orbán reiterated the government position that help must be provided to those in need in the country where they live.

Orbán said cooperation of the Visegrád Group Hungary forms with the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia is unprecedentedly strong.

He said that within the EU each of these countries have to strongly speak up for their national interests and then there will obviously be “a fight, a fierce debate”.

“We are at the moment engaged in a debate, and this is good news, since it allows us to fight for our national interests,” Orbán said.

Government official: Belgian Prime Minister’s ‘quota threat’ highlights stake of election

government official parliament

The Belgian prime minister’s recent “threat” in connection with migrant quotas highlights the biggest stake of the spring election: whether or not Hungary will become an “immigrant country”, a government official said on Sunday.

“Too many people have fought for our culture and freedom for us to give them up now,” Csaba Dömötör, parliamentary state secretary of the prime minister’s office, told public Kossuth Radio.

Dömötör reacted to comments by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel who had told Belgian news site Le Soir last weekend that Visegrád countries that “refuse to act in solidarity [with the rest of the EU] are being given an ultimatum“. Unless they come to a consensus on the matter at the European Council heads of government by June this year, the debate will be decided by a majority, Michel said.

What makes the stakes of the election a bit more clear is that the position of Hungary’s opposition parties is known, Dömötör said, adding that “practically the entire opposition is pro-migration and pro-subservience”.

Dömötör said the Belgian prime minister’s comments proved that the EU plans to start implementing its mandatory migrant relocation scheme by the summer. He said the EU wanted to enforce the scheme “over the heads of the Visegrád Group countries”. This also means that the EU “is applying a new level of pressure”, he said, arguing that Brussels was now “openly threatening the V4 countries and those that don’t want to hear about migrant quotas”.

Dömötör said the debate in the EU about migrant quotas had entered a critical phase. The proposal currently on the agenda is far more dangerous [than the previous one] because it would introduce a migrant relocation scheme without an upper limit, he insisted.

“This is out of the question,” the state secretary said. “Several national consultation surveys and a referendum have demonstrated beyond doubt that Hungarians don’t even want to hear about this.

And the government must heed the will of the Hungarian people.”

Dömötör said that Hungary’s only chance to kill the migrant quota scheme would come in the European Council, arguing that the European Parliament had already approved it and the European Council was looking to follow suit. He said that this was why it was “no accident” that the Belgian prime minister was trying to issue an ultimatum.

On the topic of the UN’s draft document on migration, Dömötör said the reason why the United Nations’ positions were important was because its resolutions serve as points of reference for other international organisations. In other words, the UN’s resolutions could make their way into European legislative proposals, he said. One of the many reasons why he said the UN’s draft document on migration was dangerous, was that it viewed the right to resettlement as a basic right. According to the document, people could live wherever they choose and the countries of the world would just have to accept this, Dömötör said.

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Budapest carnival to celebrate Visegrád Group foundation

A day-long carnival will be held in Budapest on Sunday to celebrate the foundation of the Visegrád Group 27 years ago, a spokesman for the event said on Thursday.

The carnival, to take place in and around the Várkert Bazaar near the Danube, will present programmes representing the four member countries, Miklós Csorba told public news channel M1.

It will offer folk, pop and world music concerts, gastronomy shows, children programmes and a light show and will end with a firework show, he said.

The carnival will be held in the framework of Hungary’s 2017/18 V4 presidency.

The Visegrád Group was officially formed on February 15, 1991.

Visegrád Group economy committees meet in Budapest

visegrád group V4 economy

The Visegrád countries have a vested interest in a strong, economically stable European Union, and feel responsibility for improving the community’s competitiveness to promote sustainable growth, the head of the Hungarian parliament’s economic committee said on Thursday.

The Visegrád countries should promote job creation and equal access to digital technology and qualified labour, Erik Bánki said on the sidelines of a meeting of the respective Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak committees in Budapest.

The Visegrád countries should effectively represent their interests within the European Union, he said, adding that Hungary, which holds the rotating presidency of the group, seeks to deepen V4 cooperation.

The participants signed a joint statement concerning, among others, the revision of the Posting of Workers Directive and the next EU budget period. The document calls for special attention to be paid to workers in the freight forwarding sector which has been removed from the revision and states that such workers are mobile employees and not employees posted abroad.

Concerning the next seven-year budget period, the participants said that even if security, protection and challenges posed by migration demand resolute responses from the EU, these tasks should not distract attention from such important areas as the transformation of industry and digitalisation.

The statement welcomes the Bulgarian presidency’s priority handling of cohesion funds and the common agrarian policy as key areas after 2020.

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Budapest to host V4 Film Festival

A festival showing a cross-section of films from the Visegrad countries will be held in the Budapest Uránia cinema between February 14 and 17, the cinema said on Tuesday.

It will present classic feature films focusing on historical events, as well as comedies and children stories with the aim to show the common elements in the four countries’ cinematic art, the host said.

The festival will open with a concert by Hungarian-Polish group of Krzysztof Scieranski, Miklós Birta, Frankie Lato, to be followed by a screening of Heart Tremors (1981) directed by Hungarian writer Géza Böszörményi. It features Czech director Jiri Menzel in the role of the carpenter striving to fly with the pigeons.

On the festival’s sidelines a round-table will be held with Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak film historians and experts discussing cinema history and cooperation in filmmaking among the V4 countries on February 14.

Programme details are available for the festival organised as part of Hungary’s current Visegrad Four presidency at http://www.urania-nf.hu/en/esemenyek/1113

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Visegrád Four International Piano Festival launched in North-East Hungary

The first ever Visegrád Four International Piano Festival will be held in Sárospatak, in north-eastern Hungary, in August to promote cultural cooperation, the organisers said.

The document founding the festival was signed in the town on Monday.

Guest performers from the V4 group include Martin Kasik and Lukas Klansky from the Czech Republic and Eva Poblocka from Poland, István Gyöngyösi, the festival’s production director, told a press conference.

The week-long festival will open with a concert by Concerto Budapest conducted by András Keller and featuring Hungarian pianist Ivett Gyöngyösi on August 24, he said.

Other guest performers outside the V4 include Kevin Kenner from the United States and Argentinian-born Nelson Goerner from Switzerland.

The programme will feature an evening performance and talk by Hungary’s Kossuth Prize winning pianist Tamás Vásáry marking the death centenary of Claude Debussy and a performance by Hungarian jazz pianist and composer Károly Binder.

The festival will also offer an opportunity for young talents from the V4 to come on stage for the first time at its Rising Star section, Gyöngyösi said.

Hungarian FM ejects Belgium PM ‘coercion’

Péter Szijjártó foreign minister

The Hungarian government rejects Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel’s “ultimatum” on migration, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Bratislava on Thursday.

Szijjártó made his comment in reaction to Michel, who said in an interview with Belgian news site Le Soir on Saturday that Visegrad countries that “refuse to act in solidarity [with the rest of the EU] are being given an ultimatum”. Unless they come to a consensus on the matter at the European Council heads of government by June this year, the debate will be decided by a simple majority, Michel said.

Hungary has never been a country of immigrants; neither does it intend to become one, Szijjártó told a press conference in Bratislava, where he met Slovak foreign affairs state secretary Ivan Korcok. Michel’s “ultimatum” is “coercion”, and Hungary will never yield to it, he said.

Michel’s statement is “shocking” because it is the first occasion when Brussels openly prepares for pushing through the migration quotas, “with complete disregard of certain EU countries’ opinions”, Szijjártó said. “We find this unacceptable and refuse it,” he said. The Visegrad group is concerned by the “27 terrorist attacks perpetrated by people with migration backgrounds in Europe recently and the no-go zones in certain European cities, even if the Belgian prime minister is not concerned by them,” he said.

Korcok said the Visegrad group should not once again allow “them to vote over our heads”.

Discussing energy security, Szijjártó informed Korcok on the Hungarian-Romanian agreement to establish the technical conditions for gas exports to Hungary by 2020. From 2022, large volumes of gas extracted on the Black Sea will be available to Hungary, Szijjártó said. He added that Hungary is to start the construction of a gas pipeline between the Hungarian distribution hub and the Hungarian-Slovak interconnector. The 100-kilometre pipeline will be the last section of the “north-south energy corridor”, creating a chance for Slovakia to purchase gas from Romania, the minister said.

Hungarian FM inaugurates new embassy complex in Bratislava

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó inaugurated the new headquarters of Hungary’s diplomatic mission in Bratislava on Tuesday.

After the two-year project’s completion, the complex comprises an embassy, a consular office, a trade mission and a cultural institute in a rebuilt historic building in the Slovak capital’s old town.

Addressing the inauguration, Szijjártó called Slovakia a friend and important ally. He added that the Visegrád Group (V4), to which both countries belong, “is Europe’s most successful alliance”.

The new headquarters duly reflects how highly Hungary values ties with Slovakia and how the two countries are bound by links on multiple levels, Szijjártó said.

The V4 has demonstrated its economic and political strength, the foreign minister said, calling the group “an engine of economic growth” of the European Union and a politically influential player in the bloc.

Hungary and Slovakia have stabilised their ties, paving the way to resolving contested issues, he said.

The two countries have opened several new border crossing points and connected their gas pipeline networks, he noted, adding that the construction of a new Danube bridge connecting Komárom and Komarno is under way. Annual bilateral trade amounts to close to 10 billion euros, he said.

Ivan Korcok, Slovakia’s state secretary for foreign affairs, praised bilateral relations as “excellent” and prevalent in all areas.

Szijjártó and Korcok held bilateral talks after the ceremony.

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