... Illusions and Reality
Catchwords and Combat Terms
Scene change: By the end of 2017, the EU Commission had initiated infringement proceedings against Poland because of an alleged breach of Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union. The offending object is Poland´s latest judicial reform. And the Commission is currently preparing for infringement proceedings against Hungary, also because of a purported undermining of the rule of law and a potentially serious breach of the values referred to in Article 2.
The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law ...
... the Russian analyst. On the other hand, in regard to the Visegrad Group countries, Russia does indeed occupy a qualitatively different geopolitical and geographic dimension compared to other BRICS members. It has a different history of relations with Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. To some degree, it justifies the approach adopted by the authors of the report, and at the same time, it heightens expectations for a separate report on the V4’s relations with Russia.
The group’s power ...
... and used during Operation Desert Storm.
Under the current plans, the Pentagon will provide Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia with military hardware sufficient to support a squadron (approximately 150 servicemen) and send Central European countries – Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania – equipment for an entire battalion (roughly 750 servicemen). It is remarkable that the Baltic countries, which have long
called for the deployment of a full-fledged contingent of U.S. troops
and not just heavy weapons,...
... two-percent at the expense of social programs, and the frontline role in view of a potential armed conflict in Europe.
Vadim Trukhachev
Vadim Trukhachev: the Visegrad Gainers from Ukraine Tragedy
The obvious beneficiary appears to be the Visegrad Group of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary, where both Russia-haters and opponents of sanctions are set to obtain dividends.
Domestic Politics
Newly elected Polish president Andrzej Duda, whose campaign was permeated with the Ukraine parlance and insistence on military assistance to Kiev,...
... role of the Visegrad countries in the CEE policies of the European Union. Director of RAS Institute for European Studies Alexey Gromyko underlined the importance of the Visegrad Group for development of its member states and cooperation of Russia with Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Ambassador Priputen summed up the results of the Slovak presidency in the Visegrad Group.
Roundtable "The Visegrad Europe and Russia Today"
... often brought up: in the 1960s, the per capita GDP in Czechoslovakia amounted to 60–65% of the Austrian, whereas in 1991, after the complete withdrawal of Soviet troops,
it fell to virtually 16%
. This fact is quite obvious: Czechoslovakia and Hungary and Poland developed more slowly than Austria. At the same time, the state of affairs with respect to the development of the countries of Central-Eastern Europe before and after the socialist period deserves separate attention.
Table 1.
per capita GDP (Austria ...
... activity was observed in 1998 when, after almost five years of stagnation, the four countries’ prime ministers met in Budapest and signed an agreement on the resumption of cooperation. It is indicative that this was preceded by the invitation to Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic to join NATO.
The third peak happened in the mid-2000s. It was related to the first steps of the group as EU members and was characterized by their desire to achieve equal rights with other EU member states and adjust their ...
