Czechia has taken over its seventh Visegrad Group (V4) Presidency from Slovakia, in the dramatic geopolitical context of Russia’s continued unprovoked, unjustified and brutal war of aggression against Ukraine.

Czechia continues to regard the Visegrad format as a traditional, Central European platform for cultivating good neighbourly relations through dialogue and practical human-centred cooperation, to bring specific benefits for the citizens of the V4 countries.

The programme of the Czech Presidency with its motto “V4 Citizens” was based on the above principles and structured into three pillars:

Pillar 1 “Safe and advanced society” has promoted human-centred policies, particularly people-to-people and civil society contacts in areas of culture, education, science and research or sports. The International Visegrad Fund continued to play an important role. The first pillar also included the  already established V4 cooperation in internal and external security, civil protection, public administration and health care.

Pillar 2 “Innovative and interconnected economy” has involved specific sectoral projects and initiatives bringing practical benefits for the citizens of the V4 countries, related in particular to improving connectivity in the transport and energy sectors, supporting resilience by upgrading the energy and raw materials security and diversification, and to push forward the transition to innovative, digital and green economy and clean technologies in industry and trade.

Pillar 3 has responded to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its impacts on the country, neighbouring Moldova and the wider region. It has focused on political as well as practical “Support to Ukraine” and its citizens on different levels and in different sectors. The programmes of the International Visegrad Fund specifically designed for Ukraine and for other Eastern Partnership states and societies has also been important. The Czech Presidency paid a special attention to the discussion on the future of the Eastern Partnership, and looked for ways in which this policy could help Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia fulfil their EU integration ambitions in the context of the EU enlargement policy, and to better support and engage the Belarusian civil society. Assisting the accession process of the Western Balkan countries also remained a priority.

During the Czech Presidency, a number of expert meetings, seminars and conferences on the above-mentioned topics were held, along with several traditional high-level meetings, such as a summit of the V4 Presidents.