In Budapest on Thursday, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán officially handed over the presidency of the Visegrád cooperation (V4) to Slovakia, which will lead the group for one year from 1 July. In his address, Mr. Orbán said that Central Europe is now the continent’s most successful region, and one which has a fantastic future ahead of it.
He stated that Central Europe today is not what it was even just a few years ago: it has the highest economic growth in the EU, fiscal discipline, falling rates of government debt and unemployment, and extremely high competitiveness.
Praising Slovakia’s economic indicators, the Prime Minister said that over the next twelve months the V4 will be led by one of the continent’s most successful countries.
At the joint press conference – which was also attended by the heads of government of the other two Visegrád states, Czech prime minister Andrej Babis and Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki – Slovakian prime minister Peter Pellegrini said that “Visegrád has never turned its back” on Europe. He said that the V4 forms an indivisible part of Europe, and acts in a responsible manner in every field – although the V4’s views have not always been welcomed by their other European partners, and they will not always be welcomed in the future either.
He described the three priorities of the Slovakian V4 presidency as a strong Europe, a safe environment and intelligent solutions, with the challenges for the next twelve months including the new European budget and the 2019 European parliamentary elections.
Mr. Pellegrini praised the outgoing Hungarian presidency, saying that “thanks to the Hungarian presidency, Visegrád’s voice has rung out loudly”.
(MTI)
