Essay
Abstract: The cooperation of the Visegrad Group (V4) traces back to the regime changes in the region after the fall of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s. Until 2004, the regional cooperation of the V4 was driven by the group’s aim to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Since their accession however, cooperation was lagging behind due to lack of joint concern and vision. Nevertheless, due to the annexation of Crimea and the migration crisis, discourse on the cooperation was brought back to life, however, this time it is not driven by a common political project but by the endeavour to represent the interest of the V4 against Western European member states.
Abstract: In the programme of the Slovak presidency in the V4 Group from 2014 we find the following desiderata related to enhancing the growth of V4's digital economy: the Slovak Presidency focuses on protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms in connection with the use of information and communication infrastructure in order to harmonize the approaches taken by V4 countries.1 This paper will present the legislative and political examples which stand to show that none of the desiderata has been properly pursued since 2014 by the Slovak presidency, or made up for by the Czech (2015-2016) and Polish (2017-2018) presidencies in the Visegrad Group.
Commentary
Abstract: From my point of view, defence policy is of huge importance in recent times, regarding mostly issues like the migration crisis and terrorism. Unfortunately, it might be said that some countries do not feel threatened and their defence budget is not increasing. Of course, it is not only the question of threats that makes questions of defence cooperation important, there are other significant indicators pointing to this direction. Visegrad countries share a very similar background and this should be conspicuous in their defence cooperation.