Hungary Is Willing to Cooperate with Austria and Ukraine in the V4 EU Battle Group

The meeting of the Chiefs of Defence from the four Visegrád countries – Poland, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia and Hungary – was held on Wednesday, April 17 and Thursday, April 18
in the Polish capital. Gen. Mieczyslaw Cieniuch, Lt.-Gen. Peter Vojtek, Lt.-Gen. Petr Pavel
and Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő discussed the tasks of the member states involved in setting up the
EU Battle Group, and the standpoints on developing the defence capabilities of the member
states – says a press release sent by the Ministry of Defence to Hungarian News Agency MTI
on Thursday, April 18.

Gen. Tibor Benkő stressed that Hungary is committed to participating in the battle group, and
considers it as a reliable form of regional cooperation promoting the security of the European
Union. Besides, the planned battle group offers an excellent opportunity for developing
multinational military capabilities and strengthening interoperability. Furthermore, it shows a
great example to other nations of regional cooperation in the field of capability development.

From this July on, Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the V4 countries, and a
priority of this period will be the further development of forms of cooperation within the
Visegrád Group. Ukrainian Chief of Defence Lt.-Gen. Volodymyr Zamana also attended the
second day of the Defence Chiefs’ meeting, and discussed with the participants the scope for
potential military cooperation.

From the standpoint of the Hungarian side, in connection with the joint EU Battle Group
of the Visegrád Four countries, consideration should also be given to the possibility of
cooperation with Austria and Ukraine. The involvement of new partners in joint tasks,
however, must be based on a general consensus among all member states.