REGIONAL SECURITY INTEGRATION: NORDIC AND VISEGRAD EXPERIENCE

The origin of the Visegrad cooperation was to transform this group from a NATO membership-delaying group into a NATO membership promoting pressure group, and it worked. However, the European Union accession talks did not favor such cooperation, since the Commission followed – rightly so – a strictly bilateral approach and in the process of joining. Security, where the interests still were close to each other, hardly played any role in the accession process.

Since accession to EU in 2004, there were occasions, where the Visegrad countries acted together, but Several security issues, like the relationship to Russia proved even divisive: the Visegrad countries were as divided as the NATO and the European Union. On the other hand, the some successes of the Visegrad cooperation within the European Union in last years opened the eyes of these leaders to recognize that common initiatives and/or support to individual or partially supported initiatives by the other Visegrad countries are tremendously helpful.

Read more in Policy Paper prepared especially for 5th GLOBSEC Security Conference by Amb. ISTVÁN GYARMATI, President and CEO of the International Centre for Democratic Transition (Budapest) at:

http://www.ata-sac.org/globsec2010/uploads/documents/Amb.%20Istvan%20Gyarmati%20-%20Regional%20Security%20Integration%20-%20Nordic%20and%20Visegrad%20Experience.pdf