Hospodářské Noviny, 7 September, 2009

Wary Mitteleuropeans to share embassies

Published on 7 September 2009 at 12:17
Hospodářské Noviny, 7 September, 2009

Cover

The Visegrád Group — which includes Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary — plans to cut the cost of foreign representation by opening shared embassies and consulates in certain countries of Central Asia, Africa and Latin America.**Hospodářské Novinyexpresses surprise at the announcement of "greater diplomatic collaboration" in view of recent tensions over the issue of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, which have led to hostile exchanges that the Czech business daily describes as "worthy of a gangster movie."**

Warsaw takes the view that the plan "could pave the way for more common diplomatic initiatives within the EU." However, the current proposals are limited to the sharing of real estate with no real scope for shared diplomacy because the Visegrád Group is an informal structure, which has no mandate to represent its members in third countries. The Prague daily further points out that embassy real-estate sharing is already practiced by Scandinavian countries "who make use of common embassy buildings in faraway countries, and also in Berlin."

Receive the best of European journalism straight to your inbox every Thursday
Tags

Was this article useful? If so we are delighted!

It is freely available because we believe that the right to free and independent information is essential for democracy. But this right is not guaranteed forever, and independence comes at a cost. We need your support in order to continue publishing independent, multilingual news for all Europeans.

Discover our subscription offers and their exclusive benefits and become a member of our community now!

Are you a news organisation, a business, an association or a foundation? Check out our bespoke editorial and translation services.

Support independent European journalism

European democracy needs independent media. Join our community!

On the same topic