The Visegrád Group and sustainability: Climate cooperation on state and non-state level

This paper analyses how the EU conducts its European Green Deal policy at home, specifically within the Visegrad Group (V4). The V4 consists of the following four EU members, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The successful onboarding of these countries to the European Green Deal's vision and its 2050 zero-emission goals create a make-it-or-break-it situation for successful implementation. The energy mix of the V4 consists mostly of non-renewable means of energy such as fossil fuels and nuclear power. Therefore, the V4 starts its race to just transition behind the starting line compared to other EU member states with already higher renewable energy proportion in their energy mix. The crux of the matter goes deeper since the V4 proves not to be fully willing to adapt to the supposedly shared zero-emission aims of the EU. For example, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland initially vetoed the 2050 targets in an EU voting back in 2019 - the V4 has pursued similar positions against broader climate protection efforts already for 20 years. Meanwhile, the V4 made vital concessions, such as agreeing on the latest seven-year EU financial budget, a milestone on the way to achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal. The question arises how the EU has used its instrumental and normative rationality to make the European Green Deal work, e.g., negotiating compromises with opposing positions by the V4. The next question is how the EU wants to proceed with its sustainability policies towards the V4 because, with a long-term strategy based on compromises, 2050 aims seem hardly achievable. Climate calculations already show that the EU member states are not slightly near their 2030 national targets of greenhouse gas reductions. To tackle this challenge, the EU might find additional allies in local non-state structures within the V4. Many cities, municipalities, and civil society actors support higher climate-protection targets than the state-level does.