Marek Kuchciński: Solidarity is the strength of the Visegrad Group. We want such good cooperation to link all the Carpathian countries

February 11, 2021
1:52 pm

In the program "Visitor of Telewizja Rzeszów" the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Marek Kuchciński emphasized the importance of cooperation within the Visegrad Group. He described 30 years of its existence as a very important time for all our countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) and for the whole Central Europe. - We can see the consequences of the establishment of V4 very clearly. It is important to remember that the agreement was signed a month after the Russian attack on Lithuanian television and after an attempt to attack Lithuania, i.e. to take away the then very young Lithuanian independence. I think that this accelerated the formation of the Visegrad Group - said the President.

Marcin Pawlak: There are also many other beneficial forms and platforms of cooperation, ideas and projects. Which ones came out of this Visegrad 4?

Marek Kuchciński: The recent years show that joint solidarity gives results, which can be called the principle "nothing about us without us", so if the European Union makes any decisions, it has to take into account the Visegrad Group, the best example of which was the issue of immigrants. Joint support for the best budget for the next seven years of the European Union is also a result of this. The very good cooperation of presidents and prime ministers, ministers, as well as the parliamentary cooperation launched in 2007 has brought results here. We are strong because we are solidary, and it is worth encouraging the deepening of this cooperation.

It is the aspiration of the V4 countries to go beyond the EU borders, thus creating the Tri-City Plus. It is important to cooperate on security issues, including military security, e.g. the Bucharest Nine, which are more linked to the North Atlantic Alliance, also include Visegrad countries. Parliaments are the most important institution elected by the citizens of individual countries. Our cooperation is starting to resemble the times we call the Golden Age. The 16th, 15th and 17th centuries in Central Europe were beautiful years of parliamentary democracy, when in the east and west of our part of Europe we had absolutist governments and here democracy flourished.

The idea coming out of the Visegrad Four is also the Carpathians, it is also cooperation on this platform. Before us there will be another conference Europe of the Carpathians in Przemyśl, where we will also discuss issues related to security, water supply and raw materials.

The conference Europe of the Carpathians has been taking place for many years. One of its initiators was the late Professor Wnuk. The conference has plans to enable discussions and meetings of representatives of countries, parliaments, international organizations, local governments and all people interested in cooperation and looking for solutions for the future. We are not only talking about basic safety, but also about educational, health and ecological safety. The Carpathian Mountains produce drinking water for Poland and for all countries in Central Europe to the greatest extent. In the framework of Tri-City we also focus on the development of economy and infrastructure north-south. Our governments and parliaments put great emphasis on the development of digital Europe, to this we also want to include strengthening cooperation in the field of culture in its broadest sense. The Carpathian Europe will include the slogan that the entire cultural and natural heritage of the Carpathians, from Serbia to the Carpathians on the Slovak-Czech border, should be inscribed on the UNESCO world list. This is a long-term, ambitious plan. Carpathians are very valuable area historically and culturally, they surpass other macro-regions in Europe.

We will discuss the effects of businesses, as well as government institutions, including areas such as service and health care. We will learn from and share experiences with our neighbors. Joint solidarity actions will give better profits than separate actions of states. Polish experience is very important, and cooperation of local governments and border areas is to produce results. We want to find an answer how to deal with the pocovid situation in support of Polish and international economy, for tourist enterprises serving and providing jobs

Carpathian Europe conference in Przemyśl and local issues including the Strategy for the Bieszczady.

Bieszczady are a well known slogan in Europe, therefore their skilful support is the main objective of state, also voivodeship, authorities. I will support enabling development of cross-border cooperation, proposals, which appear for so called cross-border functional areas, i.e. development of infrastructure on the Polish-Slovakian and Polish-Ukrainian border is very important. Also unused are the opportunities offered by trade and cross-border contacts between Poland and Ukraine. A good example is that citizens coming to Podkarpacie from the eastern border spent PLN 4.5 billion in 2019 alone. Let's convert this into jobs! The vast majority of these were retail expenditures, so they came, spent money and came back the same day. This is a source of income for Polish citizens living in the area from Rzeszów to Krosno, Jasło. I think it is worth looking into this in the future.