V4 Foreign Ministers Discussed the Future of the Eastern Partnership

Baku / 09.04.20 / Turan: Foreign Ministers of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries held a videoconference V4 and the Eastern Partnership on April 8. This was reported by the Czech Embassy in Azerbaijan.

The ministers adopted a joint statement confirming their vision of the Eastern Partnership as a strong and ambitious policy and declaring their readiness to actively support it.

The ministers agreed on their support for the aspirations of the partner countries interested in integration to the EU and its single market. At the same time, they underlined the crucial importance of democratic principles and the rule of law and expressed their support for civil society in Eastern Partnership countries. The ministers confirmed their readiness to continue sharing their transformation experience with Eastern Partnership countries.

V4 includes Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The four’s cooperation is based on mutual contacts at all levels, from political summits to expert and diplomatic meetings, to the activities of non-governmental associations in the region, analytical centers and research bodies, and cultural institutions.

Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček proposed to launch an extraordinary V4EastSolidarity Programme to assist the Eastern Partnership countries in the context of the COVID-19 pandemics. The new V4EastSolidarity Programme should provide up to EUR 250,000 under the International Visegrad Fund and will be dedicated to the practical strengthening of the health, social, economic resilience of vulnerable groups of citizens in the Eastern Partnership countries affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemics. The Programme will be tailored to the needs of the partners. The Ministers supported the proposal.

“The Eastern Partnership is of strategic importance to the EU and therefore one of the priority topics in the context of the EU's external relations,” stated Minister Petříček.—0--