INTRODUCTION

As with the rest of the European Union, the United Kingdom’s decision to seek a renegotiated EU relationship and a referendum was greeted with a mix of irritation and concern in the central European states of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. The renegotiation, the campaign, the result and the uncertainty and speculation that followed presented these four medium-sized EU member states with a variety of challenges and opportunities.

Despite their geographical proximity, these four states vary in both their levels of integration in the EU, their cooperation with one another and their relations with the UK. Austria, which was neutral during the Cold War but closely aligned with the West, and especially Germany, joined the EU in 1995 in the first enlargement after the Cold War. In 1999 it became one of the founding members of the Eurozone. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia joined in 2004, with six other countries – an enlargement that Britain had backed strongly, and is often seen as having gained from in terms of positive relations with the newer member states. In addition to Poland these three states form the Visegrad Group, working together to further their ideas for European integration. Slovakia joined the Eurozone in 2009, while Hungary and the Czech Republic retain their own currencies. While all four countries are members of the Schengen area, unease at the arrival of immigrants has been a common issue for them, helping boost Euroscepticism in all four. At the same time, citizens of the four states, but especially in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, have taken advantage of the EU’s freedom of movement. The future of their citizens resident in the UK quickly became one of the defining issues in the period covered here.

Membership of the EU has given all four countries an enhanced ability to shape European and international relations. As medium-sized EU members, the renegotiation and the challenge of dealing with Brexit has seen all four try to shape the position of a union of 444 million people. This was especially so for Slovakia, whose six-month presidency began only a few days after the Brexit vote.