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The Visegrád Post offers you the translation of an article published on September 25, 2017, on Mandiner, a centrist and conservative media of Hungary.

Visegrád Group – The place of national parliaments should be strengthened in the European decision-making process, says the final communiqué of the V4 on Monday. The Visegrád countries have also expressed their expectations regarding the Brexit negotiations, which should also represent the interests of the four Central and Eastern European countries in the negotiations.

The countries of the Visegrád Group want to strengthen the weight of national parliaments in EU policy, and the V4 countries – Czechia, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia – expect the EU representatives to defend their interests effectively during the Brexit negotiations.

This is what contains the closing declaration which was approved by the council of parliamentary committees for European affairs of the V4 countries in Sárospatak in the county of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (Hungary, Ed.) on Monday. Richards Hörcsik (Fidesz), chairman of the Hungarian parliamentary committee for European affairs, said at a press conference after the meeting: Hungary took over and assumed the V4 presidency for one year from July 1, and the first parliamentary meeting of this cycle was that of Sárospatak.

He stressed that the countries of Visegrád have already repeatedly stated that they consider it important to strengthen the role of national parliaments in the EU. It is a possibility offered by two points of the Treaty of Lisbon, to which they will refer when they will intervene in Brussels against “the silent legislation”, he said.

Mr Hörcsik announced that the other important item on the agenda was the Brexit, while the UK’s exit from the EU will “hurt everyone”. Reducing the resulting damage is in the interest of all EU countries – he stressed. According to his statement, the V4 member states will not sign separate agreements with the British, as the negotiations have to take place on behalf of the 27 Member States. However, the V4 countries expect that during the negotiations the EU delegation will consequently defend the interests of the four countries of Central and Eastern Europe. If it turns out that the interests of one of the four countries of the Visegrád group is being aggrieved during the Brexit negotiations, the four countries will then stand up as a whole to defend the interests of the latter, Richárd Hörcsik concluded.