This paper analyses the Chinese perception of the Visegrad Group from the point of view of scholars, decision-makers, the media, and those in business. Different groups present different attitudes to and comments about the Visegrad Group and cooperation between China and the V4. Scholars have undertaken relatively deep research on the Visegrad Group. Decision-makers take a very pragmatic view and show less will to promote dialogue between China and the V4. The Visegrad Group is not well represented in the Chinese media. Chinese entrepreneurs do not regard the V4 as a useful platform for the promotion of their trade activities. Based on the above findings, the author puts forward some proposals for promoting pragmatic cooperation between China and the V4.
Recently the popularity of fiscal rules has been increasing also due to the impact of the macroeconomic and financial shocks on fiscal sustainability. This paper reviews supranational and national fiscal rules implemented in the Visegrad countries (V4). Namely, we base the review and comparison of fiscal rules on the existing literature and the empirical data from the European Commission. According to the Fiscal Rule Strength Index developed by the European Commission, Poland’s debt rule as of 1997 received the highest ranking. Poland also received the highest score based on the aggregated Fiscal Rules Index in 2009. The most influential in this respect is the application of an early adjustment mechanism which is triggered once the debt to GDP ratio exceeds 50%. Empirical analysis showed that effectiveness of fiscal rules differs across selected groups of countries.
The current EU migration and asylum policy crisis has been perceived to constitute one of the most serious challenges for European security. The attitude of fear and reluctance towards admission of cultural others (including: refugees, asylum seekers and the immigrants) has been particularly visible in the V4 countries. The aim of this paper is therefore to examine the grounds of such a position with reference to general European tendencies as well as specific features of attitudes of Poland and Slovakia as the representatives of V4 countries in the light of their particular economic and social situation. Due to volume limitations the author will focus mainly on the two presented States. The decision regarding choice of Poland arises from the fact that as the only V4 State it has voted in favour of the mandatory quota of relocation of 120.000 refugees. Instead Slovakia constitutes the most vivid example pro-European parties changing rhetoric for more national which is quite transparent for the V4 countries. The whole analysis has been conducted in the specific context of relocation of the symbolic division of Europe an replacement of ideological Iron Curtain with cultural Velvet Curtain which leads to the phenomenon of culturalisation.
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