Community of Fate? Visegrád Cooperation Viewed from Bratislava and Prague

Abstract

The Visegrád Group has become increasingly known in the European Union as a controversial coalition that is often critical towards the mainstream direction of EU integration. This article aims to look beyond this image and examine how political parties and foreign policy experts in Czechia and Slovakia perceive the role of the Visegrád Group in their foreign policies. Using a narrative analysis of programme documents and the results of an expert survey, the article concludes that the prevailing inclination in both countries is towards an instrumental narrative as opposed to a more strategic or values-based one based on a shared identity.