Péter Magyar Seeks To Rebuild Visegrád Group Amid War In Ukraine

The war in Ukraine became the “great fracture of the Visegrado group,” with the Russian invasion opening “a gap between its members that never managed to close,” according to El Mundo.

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Britannica

In Prague, Radio Prague International tied the regional ripple effects to the Visegrád Group of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, noting that its cohesion is “regularly tested by political divergences, especially since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.”

El Mundo

El Mundo said Péter Magyar is trying to relaunch Central European cooperation “deeply damaged by the war in Ukraine,” while Radio Prague International described the Czech government as a coalition that includes the ANO movement of Andrej Babiš, the nationalist SPD party of Tomio Okamura, and the Automobilists.

El Mundo reported that Magyar’s meeting in Budapest this Tuesday with Donald Tusk, Robert Fico and Andrej Babiš reflected both an internal reform agenda and an ambition to strengthen regional influence outward.

El Mundo added that “any attempt to rebuild Central European cooperation inevitably passes through Ukraine,” framing Ukraine as the key hinge for the group’s future direction.

El Mundo said Magyar and Zelenski “had the opportunity to converse during the last European Council held in Brussels,” but that “a formal bilateral meeting remains pending.”

El Mundo reported that Magyar proposed holding that meeting “precisely in Transcarpatia,” where it said “around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians live,” and it added that Zelenski “has not publicly responded to the proposal.”

Radio Prague International

Radio Prague International quoted political scientist Lukáš Macek arguing that if Viktor Orbán “emerges victorious once again, he will be reinforced,” and that this could encourage Czech political forces to move toward “cooperation and a form of convergence with the Hungarian line on a number of issues.”

Radio Prague International also quoted Macek saying that if there is “a political alternation in Hungary,” then Andrej Babiš’s will to pursue EU-level policies “notably on Ukraine” would be “less encouraged to dissociate from the mainstream of the European Union.”

El Mundo described a partial thaw at the technical level, saying delegations from both countries recently reached an agreement on “the linguistic, educational and cultural rights of the Hungarian minority of Transcarpatia.”

El Mundo said the deterioration of the political climate also coincides with preparations for the “International Conference for the Reconstruction of Ukraine,” held on “June 25 and 26 in Gdansk,” and it reported that Zelenski “will not attend.”

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Radio Prague International

El Mundo reported that the Ukrainian delegation will be led by the prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, while it said Fico remains “one of the region’s most skeptical voices regarding accelerated integration of Ukraine into the European Union.”

El Mundo also described a new cloud in Poland, saying Polish president Karol Nawrocki withdrew Zelenski’s Order of the White Eagle after Ukraine renamed a military unit in honor of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which Warsaw calls genocide.

El Mundo said the decision provoked an immediate response from Kyiv, where “several leaders returned the Polish distinctions they had received in solidarity with Zelenski,” and it framed the crisis as adding difficulty for Tusk.

Radio Prague International, meanwhile, said Macek expects that if Hungary’s leadership line changes, the Czech government’s distance from the European mainstream on the Ukrainian question “will be much weaker,” linking domestic Hungarian politics to regional Ukraine policy choices.