Project Visegrad in the EU - How Much Do We Matter?

Timeframe: September 2013 – October 2015

Summary:

The project will analyse and critically evaluate the track record of the V4 membership in the EU ten years since the accession, by analysing the achievements as well as shortcomings (individual as well as joint) in four crucial EU policy areas. It will likewise assess the potential for future collaboration in these areas by analyzing the V4 countries strategic interests and by assessing the degree of convergence among them. The project will entail research, joint events and publications.

Project objectives:

• To analyse in-depth the track record of the V4 co-operation within the EU in major policy areas constituting important elements of its development
• To analyse the current strategies / interests of the individual V4 countries in the policy fields examined
• To identify the main points of convergence as well as divergence in the given policy areas
• To critically evaluate the potential for future V4 co-operation in the given policy areas, including ensuing recommendations for the V4 co-operation

Policy areas that will be examined in detail within the project framework:

1) EU constitutional and institutional set-up and EMU

2) EU single market

3) Freedom, Security and Justice

4) EU external relations

Project outputs/deliverables:

• 16 research reports (4 in each country), covering the policy areas examined
• 4 country papers, synthesizing the key findings from the research reports
• the final project report, synthesizing the key findings of the four national reports
• mid-term conference "One Region Many Stories" in Warsaw on October 29
• expert round tables in the 4 Visegrad capitals and Brussels
  • "Diverging Paths? Visegrad countries’ attitudes towards Russia one year after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict" on March 30 2015 in Warsaw
  • "V4, How much do we better?" on May 26, 2015 in Budapest
  • "The Role of EU Presidency: Continuity and Change" on June 12, 2015 in Bratislava
  • "Is the Eurozone membership a condition sine qua non for influencing Union´s economic policies? - The case study of Visegrad countries" on June 16, 2015 in Brussels
  • "Immigration policy in the V4: the next big challenge for the region?" on June 25, 2015 in Prague

Partners:

Foundation Institute of Public Affairs (Poland)

Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Hungary)

Research Center of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (Slovakia)

Donors:

International Visegrad Fund