The Return of the Visegrad Four (V4)

https://apnews.com/article/central-european-leaders-meet-hungary-visegrad-summit-f0171d43c8aa5fbd2f285e42dffae190

This certainly caught my eye. The Visegrad Four (V4) has been basically dead since 2022 and the Ukraine War. The bloc comprised of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia represented a semi-dissident group within the EU. It was receiving particular notice during the years when Orban ruled Hungary, and the PiS was in charge of Poland.

The 2024 EU Parliamentary Elections

https://www.politico.eu/article/brussels-braces-for-far-right-wave-as-eu-election-looms/

It's too difficult to tell if there will be a Right-wing wave in the June 2024 EU Parliamentary Elections. For years the Right has been predicted to win in France and yet always seems to fail in the second round. In other words, when it comes down to it, people are willing to vote strategically rather than stick to one party come what may. It's a definite difference when compared to the US winner-take-all system - one that makes a two-party duopoly all but inevitable.

Fico and the Slovak Media Controversy

https://www.politico.eu/article/slovak-robert-fico-government-shuns-independent-press-wants-turn-public-broadcaster-into-state-run-tv/

*This article was written on 13 May, two days before the assassination attempt which is briefly addressed at the conclusion of this piece.

Brussels has another dissident nation on its hands. On the one hand Slovakia is part of the Visegrad Four (V4), a bloc which has long resisted the EU bureaucracy. But this bloc has been fragmented if not shattered by the war in Ukraine. Poland and the Czech Republic are 'all in' with the EU and NATO, while Hungary and now Slovakia dissent. As such the foreign policy of the bloc is at odds with itself.

Ukraine and Tensions Within the V4

https://www.politico.eu/article/moment-of-truth-for-polish-hungarian-toxic-relationship-approaches/

As regular readers will know, I have been keen for some time to follow the Visegrad Four or V4 group, a faction within the EU. The loose alliance came together as three nations in the early 1990's, and then became four with the Czech-Slovak split. All four nations joined the EU in 2004 – certainly with some mixed feelings. While the four countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary) have never been fully unified, the bloc was established to preserve common interests among these nations of Central (and once 'Eastern') Europe.

The V4, Likud, Aachen and Atlanticism: New Blocs, New Structures

http://www.praguemonitor.com/2019/02/18/babi%C5%A1-travel-israel-joint-v4-summit

https://hungarytoday.hu/orban-discusses-v4-israel-summit-security-cooperation-with-netanyahu/

These events are already old news in terms of the high-tempo news cycle but they passed without proper reflection.

To start with, the V4 countries are often spoken of in relation to anti-Semitism. Far Right parties and politics are active in the V4 and thus it seems strange to many that they would meet in Israel.

V4: The Visegrad Group and its Place in Central European Geopolitics

https://www.euractiv.com/section/central-europe/news/china-hosts-visegrad-group-calls-them-dynamic-force-in-eu/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42868599

Have you ever heard of the Visegrad Group or as it sometimes called the V4?

It's not a new concept but the framework is starting to get a little more attention in the international media. Knowing about it will prove helpful to those trying to understand the dynamic at work between these nations of Central Europe and power centres like Brussels, Washington and Moscow.

Viktor Orban's recent victory in the Hungarian presidential election and further focus on Poland will necessarily drive commentators and analysts to address why some of these former Warsaw Pact members are charting a course that is increasingly hostile to Brussels.

One way of understanding the posture of both Poland and Hungary is to view them through the lens of Visegrad, a group formed in 1991 with Czechoslovakia. It's named after Visegrad Castle where a famous congress took place in 1335 in which the monarchs of Poland, Hungary and Bohemia formed an anti-Habsburg alliance.

Slovakia: Right-Wing Paramilitaries and the EU

https://apnews.com/cd66f0f8a51b416b93460e37368b42f7

America has been dealing with such paramilitary movements since at least the 1990s but it's startling to see them beginning to appear in Europe as well. Needless to say Europe's history with such groups cannot help but remind one of the Fascist era.