Should we upgrade the V4-Turkey dialogue?

Abstract

At a time when the Visegrad Group (V4) is becoming a more ambitious regional bloc, several policymakers and analysts have floated the idea of deepening a dialogue with Turkey, a country of tremendous importance for the EU, and one that is enjoying unprecedented interest of policymakers, business circles and publics at large. A new report prepared by Czech, Hungarian, Slovak and Polish researchers and kindly supported by the International Visegrad Fund explores possible areas of upgraded cooperation. The report argues that the V4+Turkey consultative format offers a number of opportunities and the group should mainly focus on the identification of the niches they can occupy to further improve EU-Turkey relations. The EU is a crucial framework for addressing all major policy areas of interest for the V4, including energy, trade, foreign and development policy in the EU neighborhoods and the management of the refugee crisis. Importantly, Turkey’s EU accession process is still the best tool for deepening a mutual relationship, since it can strengthen the country’s democratic institutions and facilitate the establishment of the functional tools for foreign policy coordination.