The Visegrad cooperation in the context of other central European cooperation formats

Abstract

This study considers the plethora of contemporary institutional frameworks for Central European cooperation. While the Visegrad Group has been the most vis‑ ible and stable format for Central European cooperation in recent history, it has been challenged by a number of alternative or complementary projects. These include the Austrian concept of Strategic/Regional Partnership, the Austrian-Czech-Slovak project Austerlitz-Formate/Nord‑Trilaterale, the Polish-Croatian Three Seas Initiative and the European Union's macro‑regional Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR). I focus on the development and prospects of each of these projects as well the rivalries among them and their intersections ot interference with one another. This survey then turns to the future Central European constellations suggested by the very different cooperation trajectories within the region. My thesis is that the region's identity has been challenged by offers to merge with Europe's West. Central European cooperation must find new challenges and themes if it is to survive.