Albares accepts Slovakia’s invitation to participate in an “expanded” Visegrad Group meeting

Eduardo González Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares accepted an invitation on Monday from his Slovak counterpart, Juraj Blanár, to participate in the upcoming meeting of the Visegrad Group in its expanded version (V4+). This coincides with Slovakia's presidency of the organization, which comprises four Central European countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland) that have traditionally been critical of EU policies on migration, external border control, and national sovereignty. The two foreign ministers announced this on Monday during a joint statement to the media after meeting in Bratislava. “It was a much-needed visit,” Albares declared during his remarks, noting that it had been “twenty years” since a bilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of both countries had taken place in Slovakia. For his part, Juraj Blanár informed reporters that Spain is “interested” in participating in the V4+ format, “an expanded meeting of the four Visegrad Group countries to include other European nations.” “The meeting should be held in the first quarter of next year,” added the Slovak minister, whose country will assume the rotating presidency of the group starting this July 1st. “The V4 format, which is historically very important for us, is gaining momentum again,” the Slovak minister affirmed. “During our presidency of the Visegrad Group, we want to expand the successful V4+ format, which we plan to extend to include cooperation with Spain,” he added. According to Blanár, V4+ can be “a unique platform” for discussing EU competitiveness, its enlargement, and the multiannual financial framework. “I would appreciate a future invitation to participate in the V4+ Group, which I will certainly consider,” Albares told reporters gathered at the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “I will return here to Bratislava,” he assured them, without elaborating further. Blanár himself recently spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha about the success of the V4 Summit, held recently in Budapest, and assured him that one of the priorities of the Slovak Presidency will be to continue with the V4+ format for the other partner countries. Sybiha confirmed Ukraine's interest in participating in this format. The Budapest meeting (the first in two years) was chaired by Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar and was therefore the first since the electoral defeat of his predecessor, Viktor Orbán, a man clearly close to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Visegrad Group, created in 1991, gained particular importance during the 2015 migration crisis due to its rejection (led by Orbán) of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door policy. However, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 contributed to fracturing the group's unity, due to the pro-Russian stances of Orbán and, specifically, the current Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico. This division was further accentuated by the victory of Donald Tusk (a man clearly opposed to Moscow) in Poland in 2023. In this new phase, the main points of unity for the Visegrad Group are its unchanged position on migration (which is on the rise across the EU), its support for a larger, long-term EU budget, its rejection of the Green Deal measures, and its reservations about EU enlargement, especially in the case of Ukraine. “Solid” relations and visit to the Lešť air base In the official statement, Albares affirmed that relations between Spain and Slovakia are “solid” thanks to the collaboration of Spanish companies, which is “especially important” in defense, but also in the automotive, infrastructure, and rail sectors, and to cooperation between the two countries in academia, tourism, and the promotion of the Spanish language. The minister also highlighted the important role of the Spanish military personnel deployed in the region. “Here, Spain guarantees Slovak security, the security of Europe, and the strength of the Alliance,” he asserted. “We must guarantee our security to be able to confront any enemy, and for that reason, we need a strong Europe,” he added. Following this meeting, Albares visited the Lešť military base in Slovakia, “the country with the largest Spanish military deployment outside our borders,” as he posted on social media. Spain has 900 Army personnel stationed at this base, where it has led the Multinational Brigade in Slovakia (MN BDE SVK) since July 2024. This brigade is part of NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence in Eastern Europe. Regarding the global geopolitical landscape, Albares defended respect for international law, stating that "it is not optional in Ukraine or the Middle East, and must be respected in all contexts." He insisted, regarding potential peace negotiations in Ukraine, that "Spain wants a just peace, a lasting peace." The same opinion on "almost everything" For his part, Juraj Blanár declared that Slovakia and Spain share "almost the same opinion on all current military conflicts in the world" and affirmed that both countries pursue "a pragmatic foreign policy based on respect for international law and mutual respect." He also warned that “only a diplomatic solution for Ukraine can end this conflict, and I firmly believe that the European Union will be more active in this dialogue than it has been so far.” Prior to this bilateral meeting, Albares spoke as a guest at the Conference of Slovak Ambassadors, where he defended the need to “promote international multilateralism for human rights, peace, democracy, and security” and warned that, to promote their “values throughout the world” and protect their citizens, Europeans must “act, and they must act together.”

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