Вишеградская четверка и развитие европейской интеграции

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the position of the Visegrad countries (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia) on the further development of European integration. Particular attention is paid to such important EU projects as the Defense Union, the Energy Union and the European Green Deal. The article also analyzes the stand of the Visegrad states on migration issues, institutional problems of European integration, energy security. Prestige and status remain important factors for the foreign and European policy of the Visegrad countries. For this reason, the latter are supporters of an intergovernmental and confederal approach to European integration, preservation of national competencies. In the vision of the further development of European integration, the positions of the mainstream and V4 have come closer. The Visegrad states do not want to leave the EU and are not ready to go to a tough confrontation with Brussels. The V4 countries that are not part of the Eurozone are planning to join it. They also support the main and most ambitious projects of European integration mentioned above, although they have their own special priorities in these projects. Visegrad is a sub-region with its own characteristics in the perception of European integration. These characteristics consist in conservatism, pragmatism, agrarianism, an anti-migrant mood. In this, some neighboring countries are similar to the Visegrad Four – Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Lithuania, Latvia. This circumstance suggests that in the future it will be possible to speak about the informal group “V4+”.