The Visegrád Group’s expansion is not on the agenda, Hungarian foreign affairs spokesman Gábor Kaleta stated, responding to a suggestion by Slovenian President Borut Pahor that Slovenia and Austria would in future participate in V4 meetings.

Mr Pahor was reported as commenting on the participation of Austria and Slovenia after meeting his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman.

Mr Kaleta said that decisions within the Visegrád Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia) are made in common. Sometimes the Visegrád Group includes other countries in its summits but the idea of enlarging the group has not been raised by its member states, he said.

However, the fact that such an expansion has been mooted testifies to the success of the V4 cooperation, Kaleta said.

The Czech news agency CTK quoted Pahor as saying the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia decided that Visegrád Plus meetings, including Austria and Slovenia, would be organised on a regular basis.

Mr Zeman said the invitation of the two countries to Visegrád Group meetings comes after long-term negotiations.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)