[vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Announcement – The 2nd Webinar of “The V4 towards NATO Strategic Concept and Strategic Compass” grant will take place on the 29th of July at 12:00 CEST

We have the pleasure to inform you that the second in a series of four webinars devoted to discussing the common position of V4 countries towards the most pressing issues within NATO, will take place on the 29th of July. The discussion panel will be entitled: “The vision of the V4 countries on the role of NATO (core tasks and principles),” and will begin at 12:00 CEST. The seminar is a part of the project entitled: “The V4 towards NATO Strategic Concept and Strategic Compass,” initiated by Casimir Pulaski Foundation, The Antall József Knowledge Centre, EUROPEUM and the Slovak Security Policy Institute. It is aimed at supporting the coordination of the V4 group stance on works over a new NATO Strategic Concept as recommended by the “NATO 2030” report of NATO’s Secretary General, as well as on the idea of the EU strategic autonomy proposed by some European leaders. The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe. We would like to kindly inform you that participation at this event is by invitation only and will be held in English with no interpretation provided.

AGENDA:

12:00 – 12:10 Welcome remarks – dr Tomasz Smura, Director of Research Office, Casimir Pulaski Foundation;

12:10– 12:20 Presentation: “The vision of the V4 countries on the role of NATO (core tasks and principles)” by Dominik Jankowski – Political Adviser, Head of the Political Section, Counsellor, Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to NATO;

12:20– 13:20 Interventions:

  1. Czech Perspective: Danielle Piatkiewicz, research fellow at EUROPEUM focusing on issues around Transatlantic and CEE security relations, democracy promotion and NATO;
  2. Hungarian Perspective: Zoltán Szenes, former Chief of the Hungarian General Staff;
  3. Slovak Perspective: Igor Merheim-Eyre, former International Republican Institute’s Program Officer and current Head of Office and Advisor to Miriam Lexmann MEP;
  4. Polish Perspective: Gen. (Ret.) Andrzej Fałkowski, former Polish Military Representative to the NATO and EU Military Committees in Brussels, former Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces;

Moderator: Dominik Jankowski – Political Adviser, Head of the Political Section, Counsellor, Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to NATO;

13:20 – 13:50      Discussion;

13:50 – 14:00      Closing remarks.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Online Debate: The vision of the V4 countries on the role of NATO (core tasks and principles)

The online debate entitled: The vision of the V4 countries on the role of NATO (core tasks and principles)”, took place on July 29th and was a part of the broader project, that was initiated by The Casimir Pulaski Foundation, The Antall József Knowledge Centre, EUROPEUM and The Slovak Security Policy Institute. The project is aimed at supporting the coordination of the V4 group’s common stance on the new NATO Strategic Concept recommended by the NATO 2030 report, as well as on the idea of EU strategic autonomy and its place within the EU Strategic Compass. The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.

The speakers that took part in the discussion included:
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Andrzej Fałkowski (Polish  perspective) – former Polish Military Representative to the NATO and EU Military Committees in Brussels, former Deputy Chief of General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces;
Gen. Zoltán Szenes (Hungarian perspective) – former Chief of The General Staff of Hungarian Armed Forces;
Danielle Piatkiewicz (Czech Perspective) – research fellow at EUROPEUM – Institute for European Policy;
Igor Merheim-Eyre (Slovak perspective) – former Republican Institute’s Program Officer and current Head of Office and Advisor to Miriam Lexmann MEP.

The discussion was moderated by Dominik Jankowski – Political Adviser, Head of the Political Section and Counsellor at the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Poland to NATO.
The seminar begun with the opening remarks from dr Tomasz Smura, who is the Director of Research Office at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. In his speech, he has highlighted the importance of a joint stand of the V4 states as a mean of making Central and Eastern Europe’s voice heard in Europe. Dominik Jankowski, begun the discussion by highlighting the key issues that in his opinion require resolving in order to best coordinate V4 states stance on different issues related to the future NATO.

  1. Are NATO 2010’s three core tasks (collective defence, crisis management and cooperative security) still fit for purpose?
  2. How to best translate military adaptation which has taken place in 2014 (shift in NATO posture) into a strategic document?
  3. How to best respond to NATO’s greatest potential challenge – hybrid warfare?

Gen. Zoltan Szenes responded, by stressing the importance of deeper cooperation between V4 states. In his opinion broad, intergovernmental consultations are necessary to integrate the highlighted issues into the core tasks of NATO for the foreseeable future. At the same time, Lt. Gen. Andrzej Fałkowski mentioned the possible challenges, when it comes to finding a common ground for the problems of NATO, even within the V4 states – “Each country has its own recipe for the future and the geostrategic position of each of those states is completely different. It may therefore be hard to align priorities and expectations between the four countries.” As per the NATO 2030 document he criticiesd parts of it, with a strong emphasis on the claim that currently the threat of a military attack on the Alliance is low. He then stressed the aggressive policies of Russia as an example of genuine military threats. Igor Merheim-Eyre, while speaking about the V4 member’s perception on Russia, said: “We have a change in how we perceive Russian behavior; it is a threat and not a strategic partner.” Danielle Piatkiewicz responded by describing what should be included in the NATO 2030 report from the Czech administration’s perspective. One of the most important points was: “a need to commit and invest in defence modernization and gaining the economic output from that.” Addressing the question on how the Czech Republic perceives the Russian threat: “Given the continued crisis in Ukraine, Czech Republic should strengthen ties with NATO in order to enhance its security. In order to become more competitive, and gain the economic output that was mentioned earlier, Czech Republic should strengthen its ties, especially with Germany.” The speaker also summarized the strategy of her country: Czech Republic knows that it should keep close ties with both NATO as well as V4 – this gives us a field for even more cooperation.” This discussion will be followed by two more webinars on the similar issues regarding the V4 group and the future of NATO. The dates, guests and topics of the future panels will be announced on CPF social media accounts.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]