Amid war, fault lines show ahead of Central European summit

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The leaders of four Central European countries are holding a summit in Slovakia to discuss energy, migration and regional cooperation. But Thursday’s meeting in Kosice, Slovakia, could redefine the nature of cooperation of the Visegrad Four regional alliance that has been strained by a divergence of approaches to the war in Ukraine. Fault lines have appeared in the regional bloc, which is made up of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The reason is Hungary’s lukewarm support for Ukraine. The meeting will be the first in months since previous summits were cancelled after being boycotted by Czech and Polish officials. Leaders are expected to pressure Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to ratify the NATO accession of Finland and Sweden.