Visegrad group

The Visegrad group (also called the Visegrad 4 or V4) is an alliance of four Central European states: Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

Historically, the Visegrad group originated in 1335, when the Czech, the Polish and the Hungarian king held a meeting in the Hungarian city of Visegrad. The modern era V4 group originated in a summit of the heads of state or government of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland held in the city of Visegrad on February 15, 1991, to establish co-operation between these three states (which, with the division of Czechoslovakia, became four) in order to further the process of European integration. The members of the Visegrad group are scheduled to enter the European Union on May 1, 2004, subject to treaty ratification in all current EU members. All Visegrad group members have conducted referenda to enter the EU, and all have been successful.