Merkel clearly wished to demonstrate that the good relations nurtured between Germany and France at the cost of enormous effort after World War II still play a central role in the 21st century, and will not diminish in importance. In return French President Nicolas Sarkozy hastened to make his first visit to Berlin and then immediately after that went on to Washington. He confirmed his faith in common underlying principles - and anyone who knows anything about the traditional Franco-American cat and mouse relationship will have immediately understood the gravity of the earlier-than-scheduled Washington visit - and his message that he was taking a new course from that of his predecessors in office. American President Barack Obama's first visit - which signified a break with the foreign policy of his own predecessor - took him to Canada. Péter Medgyessy's first meeting was with Schröder, the then German chancellor, while Ferenc Gyurcsány visited Austria. The first destination of the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was to Prague, which was both in line with Slovak traditions and an expression of gratitude for the support of the Czech left. Every visit carries its own message.        

Following an election victory the first visit of a newly inaugurated prime minister is always replete with symbolic significance. Without attributing too much weight to gesture, it is usually the result of a well thought-out decision - a visible sign of direction and the declaration of values before the international community. The first visit is no mere gesture of protocol, as it also sets out the foreign policy to come. Success can and must be achieved in other spheres of diplomacy too, but success in the relations designated by the first visit has special significance, and failure here is all the more painful.  

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's first official visit in a few days' time will be to Warsaw. Whether we analyse this step with reference to Hungarian interests, Hungary's membership of the EU or of NATO, a better decision could scarcely have been made. Hungarian-Polish relations are special: they have a greater significance and carry more weight than the sum of the two countries' political, economic and cultural ties. Experience to date has proven that when this cooperation was close and built on the basis of trust, then the two countries were able not only to effectively and successfully represent national and wider regional interests, but also strategic interests in the widest sense of the word. It is not even necessary to go as far back as our common king, Louis the Great, or to think of the "two good Polish-Hungarian, who fight together and drink together" type of historical romanticism, or the 1848 Hungarian revolution; both at the time of the change of system and on numerous occasions in the twenty years since the advantages of this cooperation have been clear to observe, and, unfortunately, so have the disadvantages when cooperation was lacking.

It is possible for close bi-lateral relations to function in an institutionalised and largely impersonal way; however, one of the characteristic features of Hungarian-Polish cooperation is that it depends on the personalities on both sides. The harmonization of Hungarian-Polish interests was never viable when a key figure lacked credibility or had compromised himself or herself in a political or personal sense.  

However, the Polish-Hungarian relationship is more than a simple bi-lateral one: its special nature stems from the fact that, as long as it has relevant foreign and domestic political content, it has the potential to not only strengthen the national interests of the two countries but also to define the Central European region, and to shape it. It can act as a force to create and sustain viable regional frameworks of operation; moreover, it provides an opportunity for our region to effectively represent its political and economic interests within the EU and, if there is a chance, to change the game.

The measure of a country's foreign policy success is to what extent it can expand its international scope for action and promote its economic opportunities within a given period. Polish-Hungarian relations are the best starting point for this.