An anti-EU ideology of "Visegradism" has emerged in Central Europe, an expression of selfish, nationalist politics. It will not be easy to overcome this ideology, but it is necessary to keep trying.
"We know what we are doing, and basically, we won yesterday. We have blocked it," said Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš after the second day of negotiations of the European Council, when leaders had failed to recommend Frans Timmermans for the post of the President of the European Commission.
And this is how the Czech Republic and the other V4 countries have been "winning" for many years now. With great satisfaction, the local elites have been presenting their political defeats as victories. They have been presenting their inability to understand the challenges and the problems of contemporary times as proud defiance. They have been presenting their prejudices and their limited understanding of the outside world as defence of the "interests of our citizens". The whole of the European Union will be feeling the impact of this approach – used by the V4 countries during the recent Council negotiations – for a long time.
