Ukraine and the V4 countries face a crisis: What happens next?

In his opening address Péter Balázs, director of the Center for European Neighborhood Studies at the Central European University highlighted the reasons why the Visegrád Group countries, despite common security interests, fail to speak with a single voice on Ukrainian politics. Mirroring the current political situation, the event organizers offered two panel sessions. At first the tense relations of Hungary and Poland with Ukraine were discussed. The Ukrainian patriotism and pro-independence sentiments aroused by the confrontation with Russia received special emphasis. The discussions focused on questions related to the reform of the Ukrainian education system, dual citizenship for ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine and the increasingly influential Ukrainian minority in Poland.

The second panel session was placed on the agenda under the heading „Undiscovered potential“ and  dealt with Ukraine's relations with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Uncertainties in foreign-policy stance and lack of knowledge regarding social dialogue define these partnerships and experts from all participating countries shared the common view that there is an enormous untapped potential.