This is the archival site of the former V4 portal. As of July 2024, it is no longer updated.
Visit visegrad.group for the current website.
Visit visegrad.group for the current website.
Fri 15 November 2024
Warszawa (PL)
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Annual Report of the Czech V4 Presidency 2015–2016
The Czech Presidency’s ambition was to focus on clear and achievable priorities. Instead of developing new V4+ formats and broadening the agenda even further, the Czech Republic resolved to concentrate on areas where cooperation was already under way.
However, at the beginning of its term the Czech Presidency found itself facing a turbulent international climate, with steeply rising Europe-bound migration from the Middle East and North Africa as one of the most pressing issues. Inevitably, the refugee crisis came to dominate the Presidency agenda, leaving the other areas of V4 cooperation more or less in the shadow, although the Presidency Programme provided considerable flexibility (and capacities) for unforeseen circumstances. At any rate, despite the difficult international context, the Czech Presidency provided the standard coordination for V4 positions prior to the meetings of the European Council and Council of the European Union (FAC, GAC, etc.), contributing to the strong and visible role of the V4 in EU agendas.
Migration was the central issue at all three V4 Prime Ministers summits (extraordinary summit on migration on 4 September 2015, summit to mark the 25th anniversary of the V4 on 15 February 2016, closing summit in Prague on 8 June 2016). It was the sole reason for two V4+ Luxembourg Foreign Ministers meetings (11 and 21 September 2015), and it remained on the agenda for all other V4 Foreign Ministers meetings. The final documents adopted at these high-level meetings testify to a comparatively broad consensus across the V4. The focus was on preserving the voluntary nature of the Union’s solidarity measures (and rejecting an obligatory distribution mechanism), and on protecting the external border of the Union. In the latter area, the V4 contribution (material and non-material) to EU measures was substantial even in the Union’s terms, and the V4 further supported it by bilateral assistance. Migration was also a central issue at extraordinary meetings of V4 Defence Ministers (17 December 2015) and Interior Ministers (19 January 2016).
Unquestionably, the existence of widely shared interests related to the refugee agenda contributed to the perception of the V4 as a cohesive whole, both internally and in the eyes of outside partners. V4 representatives were able to find a consensual and constructive common language and to get support for their positions from non-V4 countries. The robust V4 stance highlighted the relevance of the “V4 brand” and raised its perception on the European scene, admittedly at some cost to the reputation of the V4 whose positions came under criticism for “lacking solidarity” and for being “defensive”. This report does not seek to counter the criticism; however, it is only fair to mention both processes as they can be seen as two sides to one coin.
Accordingly, it can be said that the cohesion of the V4—the Czech Presidency’s top priority—remains positive even after this turbulent year. This was underlined by the events organized by the Czech Presidency to mark the 25th anniversary of the V4: the Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers meetings in Prague, the conferences initiated and co-organized by the Presidency (the Prague European Summit held in November 2015 and June 2016 was the most important event with the best prospects), and the establishment of the Panel of Eminent Personalities that can (and should) be the next Presidency’s strategic advisory body. The Panel’s report published on the occasion of the V4 anniversary in February 2016 presents a vision for future development of V4 cooperation and sets out the related recommendations.
The Czech Republic is a long-standing advocate of the International Visegrad Fund (IVF) as an important actor in maintaining and strengthening the V4’s internal as well as external ties. The main aim of the Presidency Programme in this area was to help the IVF find additional donors. To this end, the Czech Republic organized a donor conference bringing together present and potential donors (Prague, 25 May 2016) as one of the steps towards maximizing the present IVF donor engagement and generating more interest among non-V4 partners—an effort in which the IVF Secretariat naturally plays the key role, together with each successive V4 Presidency.
The Czech Presidency stated that it would deepen rather than broaden partnerships in the V4+ format. This aim was successfully fulfilled. Top-level meetings were held across ministries with traditional and long-standing partners: the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries, V4’s neighbours – southern (Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria) and northern (Baltic and Scandinavian countries), main European partners (Germany and Benelux), and with representatives of the European Commission. An important milestone was the first-ever summit of V4 Prime Ministers with the President of the Republic of Korea. Building on an earlier ministerial meeting, the summit gave a new impetus to the deepening of relations with this major East Asian partner. A meeting with Japan, another Asian country of key importance to the V4, was held at the Foreign Ministers level. At the working level, V4 Political Directors held consultations with 17 countries.
Cooperation with the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership, two regions of special interest to the V4, underwent some visible changes as the general attention shifted towards the migration issue. The Czech Presidency confirmed the importance of cooperation with the two regions. The regular conference of V4 and Western Balkans Foreign Ministers (Prague, November 2015) discussed EU enlargement and regional cooperation as well as the migration crisis and the Western Balkans migration route. Its most important result was the formal establishment of the Western Balkans Fund, symbolically ending the first phase of a project initiated under the previous Czech Presidency (2011–2012). The next phases of the project are fully in the hands of the participating Western Balkans countries whose efforts will have the support of the V4. As a follow up to the joint V4 statement of 13 November 2015, the Czech Presidency presented specific proposals for ways to deepen the V4–Western Balkans cooperation. The Czech Presidency initiated and convened an inaugural meeting of the V4–WB6 Working Group at the Political Directors level, created to develop political dialogue and to provide a platform for further deepening of cooperation between the two regional groups. A visible result of the efforts to broaden cooperation with the Western Balkans was the Czech Presidency’s participation in a regular WB6 Foreign Ministers meeting in Durrës in March 2016, which set the precedent for future V4 presidencies. In the EU, the V4 are among the main advocates of the Eastern Partnership project which represents a viable and important vector of European neighbourhood even a time when the Union’s attention is turned to the South.
The migration issue brought changes also to V4 defence cooperation which took on a new dimension as the V4 offered to assist Hungary and Slovenia in protecting the external border of the Schengen Area, including the deployment of police personnel (in accordance with EU regulations). The process of preparing the Visegrad EU Battlegroup (V4 EU BG), including its certification, to be on stand-by in the first half of 2016 was brought to a conclusion during the Czech Presidency’s term. The Czech Presidency achieved considerable progress in the debate on the building a permanent V4 modular force: in the next five years, this will take the form of a regularly renewed commitment of the V4 to contribute to EU and NATO rapid reaction forces. In the areas of V4 capability development, defence planning harmonisation, and pooling and sharing of assets, the main achievement was the finalisation of feasibility studies and approval of a timetable for capability development in five priority areas. Cooperation in V4+ formats was deepened especially with the NORDEFCO countries and the United States, including the selection of three most promising projects to be implemented under the Polish Presidency. In the area of joint procurement, the V4 established close cooperation with the European Defence Agency (EDA) and will work together with the EDA on a joint project concerning the Security of Supply.
The Czech Presidency achieved progress in debates on the integration of V4 gas markets and finalized the joint V4 risk assessment. This document, developed during the Slovak Presidency, identifies regional bottlenecks to underline the need to complete the building of the necessary infrastructure in the region. Successful cooperation was established on the EU 2030 climate and energy framework and new governance system. A V4 joint non-paper on energy security stressed the importance of maintaining a gas transit route to the EU via Ukraine. However, on some issues the V4 were unable to find a common position, which only confirms the trend towards fragmentation of V4 energy cooperation.
The Czech Presidency achieved progress in deepening V4 cooperation on the digital agenda, startups and infrastructure. A Memorandum of Understanding for Regional Cooperation in the Areas of Innovation and Startups was signed in Prague in the presence of the European Commissioner Andrus Ansip. The Czech Presidency staged presentations of V4 startups in San Francisco (Silicon Valley), London and Brussels (in cooperation with Seznam.cz web portal). It organized digital agenda conferences and workshops, including a meeting on net neutrality and Digital Single Market in Washington (November/December 2015). Building namely on the results of the preceding Slovak Presidency, the Czech Presidency confirmed that joint coordinated presentation of V4 startups and innovations is one of the most promising forms of cooperation, combining future-oriented research and development with business-oriented economic perspective. V4 Transport Ministers prepared a common position addressed to the European Commissioner Violeta Bulc, pointing to the inconsistencies between the Second CEF Energy Call and the N+3 rule. On the basis of the common position, the Commission promised to amend the requirements for the Third CEF Energy Call.
Under the thematic priority of jointly combating tax evasion and fraud in the area of excise taxes and the VAT, the main event was an international conference on the reverse charge mechanism as a way to combat tax evasion. The conference was organized by the Finance Ministry and discussed specific uses of the reverse charge mechanism. The issue has wider implications beyond the framework of V4 cooperation, and will remain a relevant topic on the V4 agenda in the financial and fiscal area.
The Czech Presidency’s motto highlights the commitment to building mutual trust. The dynamic international developments that so strongly affected the Czech Presidency did not have a disintegrative effect on V4 cooperation and the group definitely did not fall apart. Far from that—when faced with the greatest political challenges of the present day, the V4 stood more united than ever before. Under the Czech Presidency, the group again showed that on issues of European importance it is a united and powerful actor looking beyond immediate personal gains.
Implementation of the Program of the Czech Presidency in the Visegrad Group
On the whole, it can be said that all events took place as planned in the Presidency Programme. The prevailing majority of thematic priorities were achieved. In exceptional cases, some thematic priorities had to be set aside for objective reasons (for example, the review of the Cohesion Policy envelopes for 2017–2020 did not take place due to the absence of a Commission proposal). Some ministries (foreign affairs, interior, defence) flexibly added the migration issue to their lists of priorities, and adjusted the formats of their meetings accordingly.
The table below shows the most important events organized during the Czech V4 Presidency, except for working group meetings and the traditional coordination meetings prior to EU sessions.
Migration was the central issue at all three V4 Prime Ministers summits (extraordinary summit on migration on 4 September 2015, summit to mark the 25th anniversary of the V4 on 15 February 2016, closing summit in Prague on 8 June 2016). It was the sole reason for two V4+ Luxembourg Foreign Ministers meetings (11 and 21 September 2015), and it remained on the agenda for all other V4 Foreign Ministers meetings. The final documents adopted at these high-level meetings testify to a comparatively broad consensus across the V4. The focus was on preserving the voluntary nature of the Union’s solidarity measures (and rejecting an obligatory distribution mechanism), and on protecting the external border of the Union. In the latter area, the V4 contribution (material and non-material) to EU measures was substantial even in the Union’s terms, and the V4 further supported it by bilateral assistance. Migration was also a central issue at extraordinary meetings of V4 Defence Ministers (17 December 2015) and Interior Ministers (19 January 2016).
Unquestionably, the existence of widely shared interests related to the refugee agenda contributed to the perception of the V4 as a cohesive whole, both internally and in the eyes of outside partners. V4 representatives were able to find a consensual and constructive common language and to get support for their positions from non-V4 countries. The robust V4 stance highlighted the relevance of the “V4 brand” and raised its perception on the European scene, admittedly at some cost to the reputation of the V4 whose positions came under criticism for “lacking solidarity” and for being “defensive”. This report does not seek to counter the criticism; however, it is only fair to mention both processes as they can be seen as two sides to one coin.
Accordingly, it can be said that the cohesion of the V4—the Czech Presidency’s top priority—remains positive even after this turbulent year. This was underlined by the events organized by the Czech Presidency to mark the 25th anniversary of the V4: the Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers meetings in Prague, the conferences initiated and co-organized by the Presidency (the Prague European Summit held in November 2015 and June 2016 was the most important event with the best prospects), and the establishment of the Panel of Eminent Personalities that can (and should) be the next Presidency’s strategic advisory body. The Panel’s report published on the occasion of the V4 anniversary in February 2016 presents a vision for future development of V4 cooperation and sets out the related recommendations.
The Czech Republic is a long-standing advocate of the International Visegrad Fund (IVF) as an important actor in maintaining and strengthening the V4’s internal as well as external ties. The main aim of the Presidency Programme in this area was to help the IVF find additional donors. To this end, the Czech Republic organized a donor conference bringing together present and potential donors (Prague, 25 May 2016) as one of the steps towards maximizing the present IVF donor engagement and generating more interest among non-V4 partners—an effort in which the IVF Secretariat naturally plays the key role, together with each successive V4 Presidency.
The Czech Presidency stated that it would deepen rather than broaden partnerships in the V4+ format. This aim was successfully fulfilled. Top-level meetings were held across ministries with traditional and long-standing partners: the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries, V4’s neighbours – southern (Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria) and northern (Baltic and Scandinavian countries), main European partners (Germany and Benelux), and with representatives of the European Commission. An important milestone was the first-ever summit of V4 Prime Ministers with the President of the Republic of Korea. Building on an earlier ministerial meeting, the summit gave a new impetus to the deepening of relations with this major East Asian partner. A meeting with Japan, another Asian country of key importance to the V4, was held at the Foreign Ministers level. At the working level, V4 Political Directors held consultations with 17 countries.
Cooperation with the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership, two regions of special interest to the V4, underwent some visible changes as the general attention shifted towards the migration issue. The Czech Presidency confirmed the importance of cooperation with the two regions. The regular conference of V4 and Western Balkans Foreign Ministers (Prague, November 2015) discussed EU enlargement and regional cooperation as well as the migration crisis and the Western Balkans migration route. Its most important result was the formal establishment of the Western Balkans Fund, symbolically ending the first phase of a project initiated under the previous Czech Presidency (2011–2012). The next phases of the project are fully in the hands of the participating Western Balkans countries whose efforts will have the support of the V4. As a follow up to the joint V4 statement of 13 November 2015, the Czech Presidency presented specific proposals for ways to deepen the V4–Western Balkans cooperation. The Czech Presidency initiated and convened an inaugural meeting of the V4–WB6 Working Group at the Political Directors level, created to develop political dialogue and to provide a platform for further deepening of cooperation between the two regional groups. A visible result of the efforts to broaden cooperation with the Western Balkans was the Czech Presidency’s participation in a regular WB6 Foreign Ministers meeting in Durrës in March 2016, which set the precedent for future V4 presidencies. In the EU, the V4 are among the main advocates of the Eastern Partnership project which represents a viable and important vector of European neighbourhood even a time when the Union’s attention is turned to the South.
The migration issue brought changes also to V4 defence cooperation which took on a new dimension as the V4 offered to assist Hungary and Slovenia in protecting the external border of the Schengen Area, including the deployment of police personnel (in accordance with EU regulations). The process of preparing the Visegrad EU Battlegroup (V4 EU BG), including its certification, to be on stand-by in the first half of 2016 was brought to a conclusion during the Czech Presidency’s term. The Czech Presidency achieved considerable progress in the debate on the building a permanent V4 modular force: in the next five years, this will take the form of a regularly renewed commitment of the V4 to contribute to EU and NATO rapid reaction forces. In the areas of V4 capability development, defence planning harmonisation, and pooling and sharing of assets, the main achievement was the finalisation of feasibility studies and approval of a timetable for capability development in five priority areas. Cooperation in V4+ formats was deepened especially with the NORDEFCO countries and the United States, including the selection of three most promising projects to be implemented under the Polish Presidency. In the area of joint procurement, the V4 established close cooperation with the European Defence Agency (EDA) and will work together with the EDA on a joint project concerning the Security of Supply.
The Czech Presidency achieved progress in debates on the integration of V4 gas markets and finalized the joint V4 risk assessment. This document, developed during the Slovak Presidency, identifies regional bottlenecks to underline the need to complete the building of the necessary infrastructure in the region. Successful cooperation was established on the EU 2030 climate and energy framework and new governance system. A V4 joint non-paper on energy security stressed the importance of maintaining a gas transit route to the EU via Ukraine. However, on some issues the V4 were unable to find a common position, which only confirms the trend towards fragmentation of V4 energy cooperation.
The Czech Presidency achieved progress in deepening V4 cooperation on the digital agenda, startups and infrastructure. A Memorandum of Understanding for Regional Cooperation in the Areas of Innovation and Startups was signed in Prague in the presence of the European Commissioner Andrus Ansip. The Czech Presidency staged presentations of V4 startups in San Francisco (Silicon Valley), London and Brussels (in cooperation with Seznam.cz web portal). It organized digital agenda conferences and workshops, including a meeting on net neutrality and Digital Single Market in Washington (November/December 2015). Building namely on the results of the preceding Slovak Presidency, the Czech Presidency confirmed that joint coordinated presentation of V4 startups and innovations is one of the most promising forms of cooperation, combining future-oriented research and development with business-oriented economic perspective. V4 Transport Ministers prepared a common position addressed to the European Commissioner Violeta Bulc, pointing to the inconsistencies between the Second CEF Energy Call and the N+3 rule. On the basis of the common position, the Commission promised to amend the requirements for the Third CEF Energy Call.
Under the thematic priority of jointly combating tax evasion and fraud in the area of excise taxes and the VAT, the main event was an international conference on the reverse charge mechanism as a way to combat tax evasion. The conference was organized by the Finance Ministry and discussed specific uses of the reverse charge mechanism. The issue has wider implications beyond the framework of V4 cooperation, and will remain a relevant topic on the V4 agenda in the financial and fiscal area.
The Czech Presidency’s motto highlights the commitment to building mutual trust. The dynamic international developments that so strongly affected the Czech Presidency did not have a disintegrative effect on V4 cooperation and the group definitely did not fall apart. Far from that—when faced with the greatest political challenges of the present day, the V4 stood more united than ever before. Under the Czech Presidency, the group again showed that on issues of European importance it is a united and powerful actor looking beyond immediate personal gains.
Implementation of the Program of the Czech Presidency in the Visegrad Group
(by area of cooperation)
On the whole, it can be said that all events took place as planned in the Presidency Programme. The prevailing majority of thematic priorities were achieved. In exceptional cases, some thematic priorities had to be set aside for objective reasons (for example, the review of the Cohesion Policy envelopes for 2017–2020 did not take place due to the absence of a Commission proposal). Some ministries (foreign affairs, interior, defence) flexibly added the migration issue to their lists of priorities, and adjusted the formats of their meetings accordingly.
The table below shows the most important events organized during the Czech V4 Presidency, except for working group meetings and the traditional coordination meetings prior to EU sessions.