President Kiska: V4 Should Not Forget Its Origins

The Visegrad Four (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) has succeeded in proving its importance, but it's necessary for it to remember its original strategic goals, said Slovak President Andrej Kiska on Monday on the occasion of the group's 25th anniversary. Kiska noted that the original goal of the Visegrad collaboration was the free and mutual cooperation between the participating countries to achieve a single goal - European integration. Slovak President Kiska pointed out that the process that preceded the integration pushed the V4 countries into complex reforms and societal transformations. After the European integration of the four countries was achieved, cooperation remained important, "Because four voices are more convincing and effective in obtaining support for what we care about," stated the Slovak president. He added that Slovakia's Presidency of the EU in the second half of this year could even further strengthen cooperation between the V4 countries.