Pellegrini Officially Takes over V4 Presidency from Orban in Budapest

Pellegrini Officially Takes over V4 Presidency from Orban in Budapest

Budapest, June 21 (TASR correspondent) – Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) officially took over the rotating one-year presidency of the Visegrad (V4) group (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest on Thursday.

Slovakia will assume the presidency as of July 1. It will preside over the grouping for the fifth time.

Pellegrini at a joint press conference with Orban said that the Slovak presidency’s slogan will be a Dynamic Visegrad for Europe. Its programme will stand on three main pillars: a strong Europe, a safe environment and smart solutions.

The Slovak prime minister stressed that the Slovak presidency’s goal is to produce specific results to the benefit of V4 citizens. He highlighted that the Hungarian presidency managed to promote many projects actively and successfully, including innovative projects and start-ups originating in V4 countries.

“Visegrad has never shown its back to Europe. We’ve always behaved in a responsible manner in any field, sensing our contribution towards addressing problems. We’ve also taken concrete steps in migration, such as the V4 countries’ noteworthy contribution to the trustee fund for Africa that was agreed on during the Hungarian presidency,” stated Pellegrini, adding that Slovakia wants to follow up these activities as of July 1.

“Slovakia is the most successful European country of the past decade. We need a successful country to lead us,” said Orban.