Central European Foreign Ministers of the "Central 5" Discuss OSCE, Ukraine, and Migration

PeopleDiplomats ♦ Published: October 1, 2023; 19:51 ♦ (Vindobona)

The foreign ministers of the "Central 5" (C5) - Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Slovenia - met in Vienna to discuss current security policy and neighborhood issues. Host Alexander Schallenberg stressed the importance of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) as a pan-European platform for dialogue, especially in light of the challenges posed by Russia's attack on Ukraine and the need to keep the OSCE alive. During the meeting, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijártó repeatedly irritated the participants.

Austria's Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg hosted the meeting of the Central 5 (AT, CZ, HU, SK, SI) in Vienna. / Picture: © BMEIA Bundesministerium für Europa, Integration und Äußeres / Gruber / Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

With so many multilateral meetings involving top Central European diplomats, such as the one at the UN in New York and the one at a special EU Council of Foreign Ministers in Kyiv, it is easy to lose track of what is going on. While the other four colleagues were at meetings in the Western context, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijártó met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey…