Visegrad’s role in the EU’s changing political climate

The Visegrad group (V4) will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of communism in 2019, but the political landscape has changed dramatically since the democratic transition in the region.

The Visegrad group (V4) will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of communism in 2019, but the political landscape has changed dramatically since the democratic transition in the region. Although the V4 (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) is arguably one of the most successful grouping format within the European Union, the complex political processes within the EU have brought new challenges to the group, and divisions within it might well be made permanent by increasingly diverse views on the institutional future of the integration. While the anti-quota platform of the V4 was temporarily suitable to cover up the 2+2 structure of group, the economic-political preferences pulling apart the Visegrád Group, which could cause the four countries to end up in different lanes of European integration, have become increasingly visible in the swiftly transforming EU macropolitical environment. It is also a rarely examined question how much space is left for the V4 to influence EU decision-making in cases important for the region in the wake of realignments. Besides being politically divided, changes in EU decision-making weaken the block’s unity as well, which could force V4 member states onto new cooperative platforms, specially after the upcoming EP elections in 2019. One of the most pressuring issue they will have to face is the debate on the post-2020 EU budget, where the V4 – as members of the “Friends of the cohesion policy” group formed in 2011 – are mainly interested in keeping cohesion funds. Divisions between the East and the West, and between net beneficiaries and net contributors are going to be further exacerbated by the proposal to tie EU payments to the rule of law, which is a clear response to the concerns related to the political developments and suspected corruption in the region. After two and a half years of rule of law wrangling and various infringement procedures, the European Commission is trying to step up against the Hungarian and Polish governments with extended political and legal tools to prevent further democratic backsliding in the respective countries, but with a limited leverage.

Whole series is divided into 7 following lectures:

1. V4 as a grouping format: general goals and achievements (2 hours)

2. The weight of the V4 group in the EU’s decision-making process (2 hours)

3. Towards a flexible integration: the V4’s stance on a multispeed EU (2 hours)

4. Multiple challenges: the post 2020-budget negotiation in the shadow of Brexit and the refugee crisis (2 hours)

5. Illiberalism in comparison: democratic backsliding in the V4 countries (2 hours)

6. The role of the EU: to what extent is the EU able to constrain illiberal system-building? (2 hours)

7. The future of the Visegrad group – Geopolitical scenarios (1 hour)

Student's workload

lecture - 15 hrs

reading in foreign language - 30 hrs

preparation to the lecture - 15 hrs

preparation to the exam - 60 hrs

total - 120 hrs

• Tomas Strázay, Towards a sustainable Visegrad, 2018. In Marcin Moskalewicz and Wojciech Przybylski (ed.) Understanding Central Europe, London: Routledge p. 115-119.

• Rick Fawn, Visegrad: fit for purpose? 2013, Communist and Post-Communist Studies. 46. 339-349, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967067X13000287

• The European Commission, 2017. White Paper on the future of Europe, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/white_paper_on_the_future_of_europe_en.pdf

• Almut Möller and Dina Pardijs, ECFR, 2017. The future shape of Europe, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/white_paper_on_the_future_of_europe_en.pdf

• Gábor Halmai, The Possibility and Desirability of Rule of Law Conditionality. Hague Journal of the rule of law, 2018.

• Edit Zgut (ed): Illiberalism in the V4: pressure points and bright spots, http://www.politicalcapital.hu/pc-admin/source/documents/pc_fnf_v4illiberalism_pressurepoints_20180605.pdf

• Kristin Archick, 2016, The European Union: Current Challenges and Future Prospects, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R44249.pdf

• CHRISTOPHER J. BICKERTON, DERMOT HODSON, UWE PUETTER, 2014, The New Intergovernmentalism: European Integration in the Post-Maastricht Era, http://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/11050/1/NI%20JCMS%20Pre-Pub%20%282%29.pdf

Learning outcomes:

At the completion of the course the student will:

(regarding skills) be able to map interests and internal dynamics of the V4 and the basic political and economic characteristics of the respective countries.

(regarding skills) have a better recognition of the positions of the V4 countries on the institutional future of the EU through their differing political/economic preferences.

(regarding skills) be able to identify key pressuring rule of law issues and democratic backsliding in the V4 countries and how the EU responded to these trends.

Assessment methods and assessment criteria: The course is based on the lecture but also includes interactive elements. It finishes with a written examination in class: a short essay on one of the suggested topics.

Written examination in class: a short essay in English on one of the topics suggested by lecture.