As the coronavirus started to spread, the governments of the Visegrád Group – the so-called V4: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia – took early and drastic measures to protect their citizens. In early March, they were among the first in Europe to seal off their borders, ban public events, close their schools, and implement full lockdowns. Slovakia and the Czech Republic even introduced mandatory face masks. Such decisive measures, partly motivated by domestic concerns over underfunded health-care systems, have helped keep COVID-19 cases there relatively low – at least so far.

But as each V4 country continues to face its own challenges, there has been little cooperation on a regional or European level, leading to dramas at borders and other controversies. Moreover, leaders of some nations are using the state of emergency for their own political calculations. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pushed for rule by decrees; in Poland, the ruling party changed electoral rules to move ahead with presidential elections in few weeks.

In this Web Talk, we will discuss national responses in the V4 region and the extent to which EU partners are likely to pay attention to the power grabs in Budapest and Warsaw. Also, we will explore the longer-term interests of V4 countries within the EU, particularly as its members and institutions start discussing burden-sharing and joint assistance mechanisms to help them survive the major economic and social slumps ahead.

Participants will be able to ask the speakers questions during the live conversation through the Web Talk’s Q&A function.

The Web Talk will be led by:

Milan Nič, Rainer Rudolph, and Adam Traczyk, DGAP Fellows Moderated by:

Wiebke Ewering, Head of Communications, DGAP