Hungary is seeking to revive the Visegrad Four as a more influential force in EU diplomacy and potentially expand it to include Austria, Romania and Western Balkan states, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Wednesday. The V4 – currently made up of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – was originally designed to coordinate Central European positions within the European Union, but has lost cohesion in recent years amid deep political divisions, particularly over Russia policy.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Those tensions peaked under Magyar’s predecessor, Viktor Orbán, whose pro-Kremlin stance clashed sharply with Poland’s strongly anti-Russian government led by Donald Tusk. Magyar, who defeated Orbán in April’s election, chose Warsaw for his first foreign visit as prime minister, signalling a reset in regional ties. “The Visegrad Group may regain its vitality and its influence within the European Union,” Magyar said at a joint press conference with Tusk. “I am personally ready for us to expand this Visegrad cooperation to include other countries.” He floated the idea of widening the format to include Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Nordic states, and Western Balkan countries outside the EU. Hungary, currently holding the rotating presidency of the V4, could also host a leaders’ summit in Budapest before the end of June, he added.