The current informal two-day meeting of senior officials of the Visegrad Four_s foreign ministries in Britain proves that Britain knows that the more active it is in central Europe the more it will be able to profit from an enlarged EU.

The meeting of representatives from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia gives the impression that Britain is trying to informally find its allies among potential new EU members.Britain_s attitude to the European Union is one of the hottest problems given the prevailing skepticism of Britons towards the EU. Telicka, state secretary to the Foreign Ministry, said that if the process of enlarging the European Union were to be slowed down, this would put at risk the trustworthiness of the whole process as well as the EU. He said the pace of the negotiations must change in the second half of this year since otherwise it would be insufficient. Telicka added that the Czech Republic would like to know the first possible date of completion of the EU accession negotiations. The Visegrad Four countries, with the exception of Slovakia, have been included in the 5+1 fast-track group of EU candidates. Slovakia was invited to start admission negotiations with the second wave enlargement countries late last year only because of what was described as shortcomings in democratization under the previous governments of Vladimir Meciar.