ABSTRACT
The Visegrad Countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, also called the V4) have formally agreed to gradually shift the focus of their development policy and aid allocation to Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA). Yet, contrary to their official rhetoric, African countries continue to find low priority in aid policies. Development cooperation policy in the V4 is largely focused on the close neighbourhood and current political and business stakes triumph over the ‘needs and merits’ logic of aid allocation. The V4 policy also runs counter to the various international obligations for which the countries have signed up. Officially, a number of African states are classified as priority countries, but in practice, they serve merely as fig leaves masking a true disinterest. This article demonstrates that in most cases, the official message coming from the governments significantly diverges from reality. It also shows that many arguments traditionally used to explain the marginal position of SSA do not hold any longer and the current stance towards African countries is more the result of a lack of strategic vision and ad hoc formulation of foreign policy.
