Fico and Babiš Push Visegrád Pact That Serves Their Interests, Not Their Nations'

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Czech former prime minister Andrej Babiš are promoting a revived Visegrád alignment that critics argue serves the political interests of its populist leaders rather than the broader national interests of their countries. The Visegrád Group — an informal alliance of four Central European nations, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary, formed after the fall of communism to coordinate regional cooperation and European integration — has increasingly become a vehicle for leaders with nationalist and Eurosceptic leanings to coordinate political messaging against mainstream EU positions. The push comes amid tensions between the Fico government and Hungarian opposition politician Péter Magyar, who has emerged as a significant challenger to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and has drawn attention across the region. Magyar's rise has complicated the political landscape for populist leaders who have cultivated close ties with Orbán's government in Budapest. Critics argue that the Visegrád pact being promoted by Fico and Babiš prioritizes the political survival of its proponents over genuine regional cooperation. Fico, leader of the left-nationalist Smer-SD party and Slovakia's dominant political figure, has steered Slovak foreign policy in a direction broadly sympathetic to Hungary's illiberal governance model. Babiš, leader of the ANO movement in the Czech Republic, shares a similar populist profile. The alignment between the two leaders raises concerns among pro-EU voices in both countries that the Visegrád framework is being instrumentalized for domestic political purposes ahead of forthcoming electoral contests.