Discussion with Jacques Rupnik: “The Visegrad Group, a Collateral Victim of the War in Ukraine?”

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe have diverse and contrasting relations with Russia. The membership of the Visegrad group countries in NATO and the European Union acts as a protective shield. Vladimir Putin’s decision to attack a country to the west of Russia awakens the traumas of the past and has political consequences that are as unalterable as they are unexpected.

The Visegrad group (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) has consolidated itself over the years in reaction to the technocratic and liberal excesses of the European Union. These countries have formed an influential dissident group within the Union. Their national sovereignty, backed by conservative values and punctuated by a vertical practice of power, unites them. Today, their position vis-à-vis Putin divides them. The heads of state of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have gone to Ukraine. Viktor Orban opposed it and sees Zelensky as an “adversary”. Does the war in Ukraine help European unity by breaking up the Visegrad group?

The Hungarian Prime Minister’s political base has however been strengthened by the fourth consecutive victory of Viktor Orban’s party, Fidesz, in the parliamentary elections. The political and popular weight of conservative ideology, to which Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia still adhere, is not minimized by the war. Are we witnessing an isolation of Hungary? Is the division of the Visegrad group temporary or structural? What are the consequences for the future of the European Union?

All these questions will be discussed during this video meeting with Jacques RUPNIK.

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