​VISEGRAD GROUP TO DONATE 250 THOUSAND EUROS TO EaP

The Visegrad Group countries – the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – will provide 250 thousand euros for supporting the Eastern Partnership countries in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the website of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, such an agreement was achieved during the recent videoconference of V4 foreign ministers.

Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic Tomas Petricek proposed to launch an extraordinary V4EastSolidarity Program to assist the Eastern Partnership countries in the context of the COVID-19 pandemics.

“The new program should provide up to 250 thousand euros under the International Visegrad Fund and will be dedicated to the practical strengthening of the health, social, economic resilience of vulnerable groups of citizens in the Eastern Partnership countries affected by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemics. The Program will be tailored to the needs of the partners”

The main topic was the future of the Eastern Partnership ahead of the planned June summit that is expected to approve a new vision for the EU Neighborhood Policy.

The ministers adopted a joint statement confirming their vision of the Eastern Partnership as a strong and ambitious policy and declaring their readiness to actively support it, including the aspirations of the partner countries interested in integration to the EU and its single market.