| The Hungarian National Assembly has always been committed to developing the parliamentary dimension of the Visegrád Cooperation established in 1991. Parliamentary relations have been regular since the 1998 meeting of the chairmen of Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees of the Visegrád Group countries, and consultations between the Speakers of Parliaments have been common since the 2003 Budapest meeting of the Speakers. |
Polish Presidency 1.7.2020 - 30.6.2021
Speaker-level meetings
The Speakers of Parliament of Poland, which is currently holding the presidency of the Visegrád Group (V4), namely Elżbieta Witek, Marshal of the Polish Sejm, and Tomasz Grodzki, Marshal of the Polish Senate, hosted the Speakers of V4 Parliaments in Topacz Castle near Wrocław on 11 June 2021.
At the initiative of the Speakers of Parliament of Poland, which is currently holding the presidency of the Visegrád Group (V4), Speakers of the V4 Parliaments held an online meeting on 21 April 2021.
The meeting Speakers of the Visegrad Group (V4) was held online on 12 January 2021, in the framework of the Polish Presidency of the Visegrad Group upon the invitation of Elżbieta Witek, Marshal of the Polish Sejm and Tomasz Grodzki, Marshal of the Polish Senate.
Committee-level meetings
Marek Kuchciński, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Polish Sejm, in cooperation with Rihards Kols, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Latvian Seaima, organised a joint committee videoconference for the chairpersons of Foreign Affairs Committees of the V4 and B3 (except Lithuania) parliaments for the first time on 6th October 2020.
At the initiative of Marek Matuszewski, the Vice-Chair of the Polish Sejm’s Committee on Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Visegrad Countries’ committees on issues related to sports and tourism held a video conference on 22 June 2021 with the attendance of delegations from the Polish Sejm, the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, the National Council of the Slovak Republic, and the Hungarian National Assembly.
Marek Suski, Chair of the Polish Sejm’s Committee on Energy, Climate and State Assets, hosted a Video Conference for the Committees on Energy of the Parliaments of the Visegrad Countries on 9 June 2021.
Czech Presidency 1.7.2019 - 30.6.2020
Speaker-level meetings
On 17-18 November 2019, under the Czech Presidency of the Visegrád Group, organised by the Senate of the Czech Republic, the Conference of Presidents and Speakers of Parliaments of V4 Countries was held in Prague on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution.
Committee-level meetings
At the invitation of the Czech Chamber of Deputies, the Meeting of the Committees on Economic Affairs of the V4 parliaments was held in Prague on 3-4 February 2020. At the meeting the Hungarian National Assembly was represented by Jenő Manninger, Deputy Chair of the Committee on Economics and by Anita Potocskáné Kőrösi, member of the committee.
The Czech Chamber of Deputies, in cooperation with the Czech Senate, organised a joint committee meeting for the Defence Committees of the V4 parliaments on 7–8 January 2020. At the meeting the National Assembly was represented by Miklós Simon, Deputy Chair of the Committee on Defence and Law Enforcement.
At the invitation of dr. Richárd Hörcsik, the Chair of the European Affairs Committee of the Hungarian National Assembly, the European Affairs Committees of the V4 Parliaments met in Sárospatak on 8-10 September 2019. At the meeting, the European Affairs Committee of the Hungarian National Assembly was represented by the Chair, the Vice-Chair Zoltán Tessely, as well as by committee members Hajnalka Juhász and dr. Bernadett Szél.
Related issues
Events
The Committees on European Affairs of the Parliaments of the Visegrád countries met in Budapest between 16–18 April 2023. At the invitation of Richárd Hörcsik, Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of the Hungarian National Assembly, all the relevant committees of the V4 Parliamentary Chambers were represented at the event. The meeting was attended by Zoltán Tessely, Balázs Barkóczi and Péter Balassa, Vice-Chairs and Boglárka Illés and Hajnalka Juhász, members of the host Committee, alongside the Chair of the Committee.
A meeting of the European Affairs Committees of the Parliaments of V4 countries took place in Košice on 24-26 April 2022, organised by the Slovak National Council. The event was hosted by Vladimira Marcinková, the Chair of the Slovak Committee and attended by representatives from the relevant committees of all V4 parliamentary chambers, except from the Polish Senate. The Hungarian National Assembly was represented by dr. Richárd Hörcsik, Chairman and Zoltán Tessely, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs. Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Chairwoman of the European Integration Committee of the Parliament of Ukraine, also joined part of the event online, thanking all countries for the help they have provided to Ukraine so far and asking for further assistance to help them fight and survive
On 17 March 2022, the award ceremony of the competition titled ‘Hungary and the Central European Region in the European Union, the European Union in the World’ launched by the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Minister of Justice and the Head of the European Commission Representation in Hungary was held in the Parliament building.
In the context of the Hungarian V4 Presidency, on 25 November 2021, the Embassy of Hungary in Paris organised an inter-parliamentary colloquium on the future of Europe, with the participation of national Members of Parliament from the V4 countries and France. At this face-to-face event, the Hungarian Parliament was represented by dr. Hajnalka Juhász, member of the Committee on European Affairs, and dr. László Szakács, member of the Committee on Economics.
The Conference of Speakers of Parliaments of Southeast European Countries was organised by the Hungarian National Assembly on 24 September 2021 in Budapest for the tenth time since its creation in 2004. The conference organized every two years since 2005 has been serving as a forum for the exchange of information with the parliaments of Southeast European countries. This year's meeting was devoted to the possibilities of the Southeast European Countries in contributing to the forming of the future of the EU.
Delegations of the Committees on European Affairs of V4 countries met in Prague between 5-7 September 2021. The meeting was organised by the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic. The delegation from the Committee on European Affairs of the Hungarian National Assembly at the event, which had the Covid situation and the restoration after pandemic, furthermore the "Fit for 55” proposal package on its agenda, included Dr. Richárd Hörcsik, chairman, Zoltán Balczó, Deputy Chairman, and dr. Attila Tilki, Member of the Committee. The meeting was chaired by Ondřej Benešík, Chairman of the Committee on European Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic.
The Hungarian National Assembly adopted a solemn political declaration „On the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Visegrád Cooperation” on 15. February 2021. In the statement, the National Assembly expresses its appreciation and deep gratitude for the beginning of the co-operation on 15. February 1991 and for the fulfilment of European and Euro-Atlantic integration. It commends the role of the parliamentary dimension of cooperation and declares that it will continue its efforts aimed at integrating and developing the communities of the Visegrad countries.
Upon his invitation Speaker of the National Assembly László Kövér received Boris Kollár, Speaker of the Slovak National Council on his official visit to Budapest on the 30th of June 2020 in the Parliament.
On 4 November 2019, the Conference of Parliamentary Speakers of Southeast European Countries was held in Budapest, organised by the Hungarian National Assembly, for the ninth time since the establishment of the event in 2004.
The rule of law issue must be separated from the topics of the post-2021 seven-year budget framework of the European Union (EU) and the recovery fund - emphasized the Speaker of the National Assembly László Kövér, after his meeting on 14 October 2020 with his Polish counterpart in Wrocław in the west of Poland.