At a conference in Veszprém on Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics said we that we must rediscover and redefine Central Europe.

At Veszprém County Hall, the Minister of Public Administration and Justice said that while we once shared common statehood and many common cultural traditions, since the end of the First World War we have all gone our own ways as separate states and separate nations. ‘Now, perhaps, the time has come to once again redefine Central Europe,’ he said.

Mr. Navracsics was speaking at an international symposium and professional workshop entitled ‘Enhanced Visegrád Cooperation Perspectives’, which was attended by delegates from the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Croatia. He said that it was this spirit that saw the creation of the Centre for Central European Studies at the University of Pannonia, which runs courses in the Polish and Croatian languages and in subjects related to Central Europe. Discussion of experience from cooperation between the countries of the Visegrád Four and the opportunities for cooperation in Central Europe are also part of this process.

The event was part of the teaching and research programme centred on the Central European region, launched with support from the Institute of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Pannonia, and the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice.  Diplomats from the Visegrád countries agreed that cooperation may continue in the fields of energy policy, transport, infrastructure, scientific research and business (small and medium-sized enterprises).

From 1 January 2013, the regional studies research centre will begin operations as an organisational unit of the university’s social sciences and international studies institute. Organizationally the research centre comprises three thematic working groups: migration, dual citizenship and naturalisation; the international political dimensions of Hungarian security policy and peacekeeping; and public administration and regional policy on the basis of cross-border initiatives.

(MTI, Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)