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WELCOME! Welcome to the official portal of the Visegrad Group, the regional alliance of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. :::: more about the Visegrad Group
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NEWS FROM THE VISEGRAD GROUP:
03/03/2010
Extended V4 Foreign Ministerial Meeting with the Participation of Baltic States, Eastern Partnership Countries, Belgium, Spain and Representatives of the European Commission, Budapest 2 March 2010:
25/02/2010 11/11/2009
Shanghai---On 24 September 2009 during the fourth Participants' Meeting of EXPO 2010, Mr. Pavel Stehlík was elected member of the Steering Committee for EXPO 2010. Mr. Stehlík, the Commissioner General of the Czech Republic for EXPO 2010 in Shanghai, whose candidature was supported by the Czech Government, became also the common candidate of the Visegrad Group countries as his candidature was supported by all V4 memberstates. This considerably contributed to the final success of this candudature and became another success case of V4 cooperation.
The Steering Committee of EXPO represents the common interests of all official participants and ensures that the Regulation of EXPO are fully implemented. The Steering Committee acts also in a consultative role to the Commissioner General of the EXPO as necessary and exercises authority when disputes arise. The Steering Committee is composed of 20 to 22 elected members and 1 to 3 elected Vice Chairmen.
06/10/2009
Foreign ministers of the Visegrad Group countries met in Budapest at a special ministerial meeting dedicated to the Western Balkans on Tuesday, 6 October 2009. The ministers acknowledged the crucial role European and Euro-Atlantic integration played in the transformation of Central Europe and wish to see the enlargement policy fostering stability and prosperity in the same manner in the Western Balkan region... [read further]
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CURRENT NEWS:
Slovak gov't dysfunctional, says opposition official Opposition SMK vice-chair Jozsef Berenyi said on Wednesday that he now considers the government to be dysfunctional after the Slovak National Party party told its Construction Minister Igor Stefanov to resist PM Robert Fico's calls for him to resign. Fico called for Stefanov's resignation after the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) announced on Monday that the ministry had used European Union funds for other-than-stated purposes. 10/03/2010 Slovak salaries rose most in IT and communications Nominal monthly salaries in Slovakia in January grew fastest in information and communications, and fell most sharply in transport, the Statistics Office reported on Wednesday. According to data for January, nominal monthly salaries rose by 6.1 percent to EUR 1,530 in information and communications. Other increases included the industry - by 5.6 percent to EUR 757, restaurants and pubs - 5.1 percent to EUR 358, and selected market services - 4.9 percent to EUR 743. 10/03/2010 Protest against Slovak patriotism act Approximately 1,000 people, mostly students, gathered outside the Presidential Palace on Wednesday to protest against the newly-approved Patriotism Act. "On behalf of all students, I want to call on President Ivan Gasparovic not to sign the act ... We disagree that a democratic state should force an emotion that ought to be honest and free," said Robert Mihaly of "The Initiative for Transparent Democracy". 10/03/2010 Most-Hid leader criticises Slovak food act Inspectors who check food items in stores are susceptible to corruption as the newly-amended Food Act sets only an upper limit for penalties and neglects to state a bottom level, Most-Hid party vice-chairman and independent MP Zsolt Simon told TASR on Wednesday. "There's a really large amount of arbitrariness in it," said Simon, adding that an inspector may impose a fine of one euro on one shop, while another may be fined as much as half a million. 10/03/2010 Slovak President to sack construction minister on Thursday President Ivan Gasparovic is slated to dismiss Construction and Regional Development Minister Igor Stefanov (an SNS nominee) on Thursday morning, the president's spokesman Marek Trubac told journalists on Wednesday. The date of Stefanov's ouster was agreed upon between Gasparovic and co-governing SNS party leader Jan Slota at a meeting that was held shortly before Trubac broke the news. 10/03/2010 Czech military police check purchase of uniforms The Czech military police are investigating the purchase of uniforms for the Special Operations Group (SOG), the military police´s elite unit, that has been scrapped meanwhile, for its operation in Afghanistan, server Aktualne.cz reported on Wednesday. The tender was put up on the military´s e-market SEPO in autumn 2008. In this case, the responsible department breached the law on placing public tenders, the Defence Ministry told Aktualne.cz. 10/03/2010 Czech town halls hoist Tibetan flag A total of 364 town halls in the Czech Republic on Wednesday hoisted Tibetan flags, one more than a year ago, the Internet information website on Tibet reported. Czech Green (SZ) deputies also hoisted the Tibetan flag from the window of their group's office in the Chamber of Deputies to support Tibet's fight for human rights. 10/03/2010 Team of experts to discuss Canadian visas in Prague A Czech-Canadian expert team at deputy foreign ministers´ level will meet in Prague next Monday to discuss the visas for Czechs that Canada reintroduced last July in reaction to the rising number of asylum seekers from the Czech Republic, mainly Romanies, the Czech Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. The Czech Republic will be represented at the meeting by deputy foreign minister Hynek Kmonicek, the ministry told CTK. 10/03/2010 Czech minister offers resignation over media comments Michael Kocab, Czech minister for human rights and minorities, has offered his resignation to Prime Minister Jan Fischer over the media commenting on his family affairs, servers Aktualne.cz and Tyden.cz reported on Wednesday. The tabloid Blesk wrote that Kocab, 55, and his spokeswoman Lejla Abbasova, 30, were having an affair. 10/03/2010 Czech disabled to get subsistence benefits under new bill Disabled people who do not get disability pensions for various reasons will be eligible for subsistence allowances under a bill that the Czech lower house passed on Wednesday. The bill is yet to be supported by the Senate and signed by the president to take effect. Ombudsman Otakar Motejl has called for the change in the law that has been effective since January and whose main aim is to prevent the abuse of welfare benefits. 10/03/2010 Support for parties stable before Hungarian elections With hardly more than a month to go until the general elections, Hungary's main opposition Fidesz maintained its lead over the ruling Socialists last week, a recent poll by the Nezopont Institute showed. Forty nine percent of respondents willing to vote expressed support for Fidesz, 12 percent for the Socialists and 9 percent for the radical nationalist Jobbik party. Twenty six percent of those asked were unable or unwilling to tell whom they would vote for. 10/03/2010 Deadly new flu virus not expected to make comeback in spring - Hungarian official Health experts do not expect a pandemic of the deadly new flu virus to return in the spring and the number of people turning to their doctor with symptoms of the virus is steadily declining, Hungary's chief medical officer Ferenc Falus told the press on Wednesday. Falus said however that the prediction did not entail dropping plans to prepare for a new wave of the H1N1 virus epidemic. People with asthma, heart problems or diabetes should get the new-flu vaccine, he added. 10/03/2010 Hungary gov't adopts new arms licensing regulations The government on Wednesday adopted a decree governing the ownership of firearms by private individuals, Justice Minister Imre Forgacs said. The decree stipulates that licences to keep fire arms for sporting purposes shall only be granted if the applicant has been a member of a sports club for at least three years and if they have passed a psychology test. He said that the new regulations were designed to prevent sports weapons from being used "as quasi self-defence arms". 10/03/2010 Hungarian president signs Holocaust denial bill President Laszlo Solyom on Wednesday signed a recent law on penalising Holocaust denial, a senior official of the president's office said. Solyom signed the law since it does not contravene the Constitution, said Ferenc Kumin. At the same time, Solyom said that adopting the law amid the campaign for the April general election had been inappropriate. MPs approved on February 22 an amendment to the Penal Code under which denial of the Holocaust in public is punishable by up to three years in prison. 10/03/2010 Elections 2010 - Ruling Socialists cancel policy debates The ruling Socialists have decided to cancel the policy debates planned between senior ministry officials and experts of the main opposition Fidesz party, the party spokeswoman said on Wednesday. At the first of the three debates the Socialists initiated last week, Deputy Social Affairs Minister Lajos Korozs remained without a partner as no representative of Fidesz showed up on Tuesday to discuss social policy and welfare, said Bernadett Budai. 10/03/2010 Polish president to visit Lithuania President Lech Kaczynski will attend celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of Lithuania's independence in Vilnius on Thursday. The Polish president will address the Lithuanian Seimas. Later in the day together with his Lithuanian counterpart Dalia Grybauskaite he will attend a military parade and later a mass at the Vilnius cathedral. The programme of the visit provides also for a face-to-face meeting of the two presidents. 10/03/2010 Polish FM receives Belarusian opposition reps Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski met representatives of the Belarusian opposition in Warsaw on Wednesday, ministry spokesman Piotr Paszkowski said. Sikorski asked them leaders for their evaluation of the political situation in their country with a special stress put on the recent developments involving the Polish minority there. On Wednesday the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning recent repressions against the Polish minority in Belarus. 10/03/2010 Most Poles proud of being Polish Sixty percent of Poles in a CBOS poll declared they were proud of being Polish, 31 percent said they rarely felt proud of their nationality. National pride was most frequently declared by elderly people (71 percent), city dwellers, executives and academics (68 percent) and public employees (66 percent). Least proud were people between 25 and 34 (38 percent), rural dwellers (32 percent), non-academics (35 percent) and medium-bracket earners (44 percent). 10/03/2010 Poland counts on raised Czech involvement in Afghanistan Poland hopes the Czech parliament agrees to raise the number of Czech troops in Afghanistan, Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said in Prague on Wednesday. The Czech government wants to send 55 extra soldiers to Afghanistan. Forty of them would be detailed to man two missile-detecting radars in the Polish military base in Ghazni province. Czech MPs will review the matter next Wednesday. The project may fall through if the Czech left keeps up its negative stance on sending extra forces to Afghanistan. 10/03/2010 Warsaw to host Chopin Open Chopin Open, a Chopin-dedicated edition of the French La Folle Journee festival, will take place in Warsaw from June 11 to 13, French ambassador Barry Delongchamps said on Wednesday. He said the idea to hold the festival in Warsaw was connected with Chopin's ties with France. La Folle Journee was founded 15 years ago and takes place in Nantes. The festival is known for its morning-to-evening programme of short concerts and low entrance prices. Former hosts included Bilbao and Rio de Janeiro. 10/03/2010
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