To create the alliance of Visegrad Threes was initiated by József Antall Hungary’s late prime minister in November 1990 on the CSCE held in Paris monitoring the Helsinki Process, on a special meeting with Vaclav Havel the president of the former Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, and Lech Walesa, the president of Poland to discuss this issue.

The presidents and the prime minister was accompanied by three other politicians each, on Hungary’s part Géza Jeszenszky (foreign minister), Gyula Kodolányi (state secretary), and János Száva (Hungary’s ambassador in France).

József Antall recommended to establish a club consisting of three members to coordinate the integration of these countries to the West. Antall suggested to call the club Visegrad Cooperation referring to the first Central European summit talks in 1335 in the Visegrad Castle between the Hungarian king, Károly Róbert, the Bohemian king, John of Luxembourg, and the Polish king, Casimir the Great.

On the special meeting Antall invited the participants to the charter session of the club to be held in Visegrad, in March 1991.

The first informal meeting was held in Budapest, in the beginning of February 1991, with large delegations. As a result a document called “Declaration On Cooperation Between The Czech And Slovak Federal Republic, The Republic Of Poland And The Republic Of Hungary In Striving For European Integration” was signed on 15 February 1991 by the parties.

The Declaration was signed in the same cellar of the Visegrad Castle, which also had given place six and a half centuries ago to an agreement between these three countries, almost with the same contents.

The document signed by the Visegard Threes became known as Visegard Declaration, and determined the following common objectives:

-          full restitution of state independence, democracy and freedom,

-          elimination of all existing social, economic and spiritual aspects of the totalitarian system,

-          construction of a parliamentary democracy, a modern State of Law, respect for human rights and freedoms,

-          creation of a modern free market economy,

-          full involvement in the European political and economic system, as well as the system of security and legislation.

After Czechoslovakia split into the Check Republic and the Slovak Republic in 1 January 1993, it was confirmed in Prague, in 11-12 January 1994, that the Visegrad cooperation will be maintained in a changeless form, but with four members.

From this date frequency of dialogues decreased, however from the second half of 1998 the cooperation became stronger.

In 9 June 2000, the leaders of the Visegrad Fours signed a document called “Agreement Concerning the Establishment of the International Visegrad Fund”. The member states pay a certain contribution to the Fund, and make it possible for the civil organizations to participate along with the political and the official corporations. The Agreement puts the parties under obligations as well.

The Visegrad Fours do not wish to expand their numbers in the near future, however they cooperate with other countries in regional issues in the form of V4+. An example of this regional cooperation is V4-B3, an agreement with the Benelux.

Today, as members of the European Union, and as a result of cooperation, the Visegrad Fours’ institutions have built a complex network of relationships on different levels, including professional, parliamentary levels, and levels of offices of ministries and state presidents.

This scientific conference is based on these relationships.

For more information about Visegrad Fours, please visit www.visegradgroup.org!