Foreign Policies

Danko: We Want V4 to Remain Relevant Player within EU

Berlin/Bratislava, April 19 (TASR-correspondent) – Parliamentary Chairman Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) on Thursday as part of his two-day working visit to Germany invited German Bundestag President Wolfgang Schauble to a session of the heads of parliaments of the Visegrad Four (V4) group, TASR learnt on the same day.

The session of parliamentary chairs of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia will take place during Slovakia’s upcoming presidency of the V4 group, which is set to begin in July.

According to Danko, Slovakia will seek to strengthen the V4’s position as a pragmatic partner for other EU-member states. “Our primary objective is to keep the V4 in the European mainstream as a constructive and relevant player, especially in the context of debates on the future of the EU. When it comes to searching for allies, the V4 remains a priority regional format for us,” said Danko, adding that cooperation between the V4 and Germany will be among the priorities of Slovakia’s presidency of the group.

“We want to direct our cooperation in a way that will lead to EU partners seeing us as a constructive and cooperative group. One successful example of promoting V4 interests is the rejection of double standards in food quality within the EU single market,” said Danko.

At the end of his working trip the Slovak parliamentary chair laid flowers at the memorial marking the contribution of the V4 countries to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The memorial, which is located on Bernauer Street in the German capital, was unveiled last June with the support of the V4 embassies in Germany as well as with the help of the Adalbert-Stiftung Foundation, which focuses on developing cooperation with the V4 countries.

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