Visegrad Group presidents discuss Euro 2012, Ukraine, NATO summit - News National Security Bureau

Presidents Komorowski, Vaclav Klaus and Ivan Gaszparovicz came to Sztrbske Pleso on Saturday for a two-day meeting devoted mainly to questions expected to be reviewed at the forthcoming NATO summit in Chicago. The fourth member state of the Group, Hungary, was represented by its ambassador to Slovakia Csaba Balogh because the newly elected Hungarian president, Janos Ader, will take office on May 10.

Speaking at a joint press conference of the three presidents held after the talks, president Komorowski stressed that to his great satisfaction none of the participants in the meeting was in favour of boycotting matches to be played in Ukraine during Euro 2012 football championships, even though they differed on attending the Yalta summit of East-Central European leaders due May 11-12. It was important because the games were a joint achievement of Poland and Ukraine, B. Komorowski added.

He said he would attend the Yalta meeting and send "a clear-cut message to the Ukrainian authorities (..) with a call to eliminate the cause of the present problems and Ukraine's bad image in Europe, which is, in my opinion, a result of the law that enables to imprison politicians for their mistaken or harmful decisions." The Yalta summit was an important topic of discussions during the presidents' meeting, Bronisław Komorowski admitted. Vaclav Klaus repeated once again he would not go to Yalta, while Ivan Gaszparovicz declared he would appear at the summit if it went through. President Klaus said he respected the position of his two interlocutors and pointed to the fact that unlike Poland and Slovakia, the Czech Republic did not border Ukraine and therefore had somewhat different interests in relations with that country.

One of the leading topics discussed by the Visegrad Group presidents was the NATO summit in Chicago due later this month. Polish president said to his great satisfaction there was "far-going convergence of standpoints to be presented by our states" at the summit. The convergence was visible and declared with regard to virtually all important issues, he added.

"It also applies to ending the mission in Afghanistan in 2014. The ways of (NATO states) involvement after 2014 should be open to debate," said President Komorowski. Poland was for the involvement to take the form of reconstruction effort, he added.

The president recalled that recently he had had a meeting with the presidents of Latvia and Estonia and their positions on issues to be debated in Chicago were also convergent with the Polish one.

On Saturday, the first day of their meeting in Slovakia, the Visegrad Group presidents also discussed the planning and development of tourist traffic between their neighbouring countries.

Head of the National Security Bureau Stanisław Koziej also took part in the meeting.

PAP