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V4's 'back': Polish FM hails renewed ties with regional partners

01.09.2026 17:15
Visegrad Group cooperation is back on track, Poland's top diplomat Radosław Sikorski said on Tuesday, after the V4 bloc's four foreign ministers met near Bratislava in a bid to rebuild closer ties.
Hungarys Anita Orbn, the Czech Republics Petr Macinka, Slovakias Juraj Blanr and Polands Radosław Sikorski attend the Visegrad Group meeting in Tomov, Slovakia, on Tuesday.
Hungary's Anita Orbán, the Czech Republic's Petr Macinka, Slovakia's Juraj Blanár and Poland's Radosław Sikorski attend the Visegrad Group meeting in Tomášov, Slovakia, on Tuesday.Photo: EPA/MARTIN DIVISEK

The meeting was hosted by Slovakia's Juraj Blanár, whose country has just taken over the regional group's rotating presidency.

Poland's Sikorski, Hungary's Anita Orbán and the Czech Republic's Petr Macinka also attended.

In an article published across the Visegrad Group (V4) capitals, Blanár wrote: "Every time our countries have managed to act together and with one voice, it has brought concrete results for our region, our citizens, and the whole European Union."

He added: "That is the successful cooperation we want to continue."

He listed competitiveness, EU enlargement, cooperation in areas such as transport and energy, and tackling illegal migration among Bratislava’s main priorities.

Ties between the four governments – Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, which have been grouped together under the V4 format since the early 1990s – had cooled in recent years, strained by differing responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and tensions between Warsaw and Budapest.

Sikorski, who also serves as a deputy prime minister, struck a similar note after the talks.

"The Visegrad Group is back," he told reporters. "We can trust each other again and agree on things together."

He also said Poland stood "in solidarity with all the victims of Vladimir Putin's Russia," accusing Moscow of sabotage, arson, political assassinations and state terror, and citing an attempt to blow up a train in Poland.

Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi then joined the ministers for talks on political and economic ties, security, and the future of EU-Japan relations, including cooperation on science and technology, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

(ał/gs)

Source: PAP