Polish Prime Minister Meteusz Morawicki has signaled Poland’s desire to return to close relations with Hungary within the Visegrad Four format, according to an interview published on Monday in the weekly Sieci.
Relations between Poland and Hungary deteriorated markedly as a result of the divergent stances taken by both countries regarding the war in Ukraine. The conflict has divided the V4 group, with Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia firmly backing Ukraine against Russia, whereas Hungary has adopted a policy of keeping its distance from the conflict.
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Asked by Sieci whether Polish-Hungarian friendship was at an end, Morawiecki acknowledged that attitudes towards the war had put strains on the relationship. However, he hoped that all the remaining issues in Europe the two countries had cooperated on and regarding which they had shown solidarity to each other would protect the relationship and help restore understanding. He is convinced that all members of the V4 group understood how the existence of the format helped them have more say within the EU than they would normally have individually.
The journalists from Sieci pressed Morawiecki on whether regular meetings of the V4 group would now return. Morawiecki said that it was Poland’s intention to “develop a formula which, while being responsive to the sensibilities of our Ukrainian friends, will enable us to return to cooperation within the V4 format and bilateral cooperation with Germany in areas in which the two countries share common values as well as interests.”
He said he believed that such understanding was possible and that Poles were today more ready for it than perhaps they were back in March or April of this year.
Poland and Hungary have been allies in the European Union for the past seven years on issues such as migration and resisting Brussels’ attempts to increase the powers of EU institutions. Both governments are committed to pushing for a Europe of nation-states and opposing federalization of the EU.
