Framing integration as an act of sovereignty: focus on the Visegrad countries

Abstract

The current decade has been remarkably challenging for the whole European Union. The outburst of the migration crisis and the increase of nationalism in the Central-Europe has put the future of the European Union under concern. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the change of positions and statements of the Visegrad countries toward the European integration, based on the challenges and critical questions that EU is facing. The empirical part is constructed through critical discourse analysis, bases on the theory of constructivism and uses supranational governance and intergovernmental approach as competing ideas of European integration. The materials used for the analyse are the official statements and annual reports of the Visegrad Group. The results indicated that there is a certain change of balance in the statements of the group before and after the start of the crisis.