Czech Republic takes over V4 Presidency from Slovakia

Slovakia handed over the presidency of the Visegrad Four (V4) to the Czech Republic on the sideline of the European Council meeting in Brussels Friday, the Czech government said in a statement.

The 7th Czech V4 presidency will run from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020.

With slogan of "V4 Reasonable Europe", the Czech government set its main goal for the year as to strengthen the V4 countries' position in the EU and NATO, as well as to promote the unity and cohesiveness of these organizations, the statement said.

The priorities include the integration of the Western Balkans and development of Eastern Partnership, innovation and artificial intelligence, social and economic convergence as well as cohesion policy.

Founded in 1991, the V4 is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European states -- the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary -- for the purpose of advancing military, cultural, economic and energy cooperation with one another.

Members of the V4 regularly take turns performing the office of chairman after a year. The V4 Presidency always runs from the beginning of July to the end of June of the following year.