REPORT: The Future of the Visegrad Group

On 24 October 2017 in Berlin, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and Das Progressive Zentrum launched the second episode of their joint project "Future Scenarios for the Visegrad Group".

On 24 October 2017 in Berlin, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and Das Progressive Zentrum launched the second episode of their joint project "Future Scenarios for the Visegrad Group".

The speakers who attended were:

• Dr. Ireneusz Bil (Director, Amicus Europe)
• Dr. Ania Skrzypek (Senior Research Fellow, FEPS)
• Martin Michelot (Deputy Director, EUROPEUM Institute for European Policy)
• Prof. Andrea Pető, (Professor, Central European University)
• Katarína Neveďalová (Senior Diplomat, Permanent Representation of the Slovak Republic to the EU)

The concluding comments were delivered by Dr. Ernst Stetter, Secretary General of FEPS.

The Visegrad Four has aroused the minds and hearts of political spectators and actors alike lately: From a rather innocent and inconspicuous platform for informal regional cooperation, the V4 has evolved into a perceived antithesis of the European political mainstream in recent years. Yet, is this a mere snapshot of the current state of the V4 or a lasting development? What does the future hold for the V4? And, more importantly, how can progressive forces actively shape this future? Responses of our experts at the second international roundtable on ‘Future Scenarios for the Visegrad Group’ were mixed. Yet, in one aspect there was broad agreement: It is about high time to reinvent progressive politics – both spatially and thematically.

The whole article in English is available here. 

Martin Michelot
Senior Associate Research Fellow

Expertise: NATO and transatlantic security, European foreign policy and defense, French politics, elections and society, Visegrad Four and Central Europe, EU institutional issues