The Visegrád countries take a pro-peace stance

Although many have said it was dead and buried, the V4 has once again proven to be a necessary and effective form of cooperation, said President Tamás Sulyok at an official meeting of the Heads of State of the Visegrad Group (Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) in Wisła, Poland.

According to the Hungarian Head of State, Central Europe is facing serious challenges today, but dialogue is effective and the need for cooperation cannot be called into question. Our neighbour has been at war for more than a thousand days, but I am hopeful that the guns will fall silent in Ukraine next year, the Hungarian Head of State said.

Dr. Tamás Sulyok believes that the perception of the war within the V4 is changing, because the meeting of the Heads of State was essentially about peace, about the possibilities of peace and about the possibilities of action after peace. The President underlined that our position has remained the same, while the position of others have changed towards alignment with ours.

At the press conference following the meeting of the Heads of State, Dr. Tamás Sulyok said that everything must be done to ensure that the conflict in the Middle East does not widen further and that no extremist ideology or group can take control of any of its countries. The Hungarian Head of State said that particular attention must be paid to ensuring full respect for the rights of religious communities and minorities and to the security of these communities. He added that Hungary will continue to pay special attention to the Christian communities in the region, to whom we will continue to provide humanitarian assistance.

The President of Hungary also pointed out that the Hungarian EU Presidency will end in a few days, and that Hungary is passing over the baton to Poland.

Dr. Tamás Sulyok noted that during the Hungarian EU Presidency, several significant policy achievements have been made. He stressed that the Budapest Declaration on the New European Competitiveness Deal, adopted at the informal European Council meeting on 8 November, is of great importance for the future of the Union as a whole.

The President added that Hungary has been firmly supporting Romania and Bulgaria's full accession to the Schengen Area as soon as possible. We are proud that the Council has recently agreed to this, so that next spring border controls will also be lifted at the land borders of these two countries, the Hungarian Head of State said.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Tamás Sulyok stressed that he sincerely hopes that in the coming days the Member States will also reach a consensus on the next steps to be taken in the enlargement of the EU.