29 Apr “20 Years of Reuniting Europe’s East and West” – Summary of the annual Think Visegrad Forum
On 10-11 April 2024, CEID (represented by external fellow András Lázár) participated at a two-day conference in Prague entitled “20 Years of Reuniting Europe’s East and West”, organised by EUROPEUM in cooperation with the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and supported i.a. by the Visegrad Fund.
The event included the annual conference of the Think Visegrad platform’s core member institutions. Think tank representatives discussed the state of regional cooperation in Central Europe, popular perceptions on the EU agenda in the V4 countries, as well as ongoing Think Visegrad projects such as joint papers, fellowship programs, ‘Think Visegrad in Brussels’ events and the Civil Servants Mobility Program.
On the second day, the EU Enlargement Forum took place at the Czech foreign ministry, focusing on the impact of the 2004 ‘big bang’ enlargement, as well as perspectives of further EU enlargement (Western Balkans and Eastern Europe). The event, which also stressed the V4 countries’ pro-enlargement support, was attended by more than 60 think-tank experts and diplomats from 17 EU Member States, the Western Balkan countries, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Think Visegrad is a permanent cooperation between 8 foreign policy think tanks (and occasionally other partners) from the V4 countries, including CEID, providing a platform for structured dialogue on issues of strategic regional importance. Among other activities, the network analyzes key issues for the Visegrad Group, and provides recommendations to the governments of V4 countries, the annual presidencies of the group, and the International Visegrad Fund.
