Unpolitics, domestic pressures, or else? The opposition of Visegrád Group countries to the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum

Why do governments oppose seemingly favourable policy changes? This paper engages with this broader question by analys- ing the behaviour of EU Member States during the Pact on Migration and Asylum negotiations. Specifically, it looks at the Visegrád Group countries – Czechia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia – which were the only states not supporting any files of the Pact, despite it introducing harsher immigration rules in line with their policy positions. The paper explores three potential explanations, deliberate obstructionism conceptualised as ‘unpoli- tics,’ domestic political pressures, and genuine policy red lines, using semi-structured elite interviews and Council of the EU pre- paratory documents. It finds that high-level political disagreements and divergent negotiation strategies meant that the Visegrád Group ceased to be a relevant collective actor in EU migration policy. Similarly, the rationale for their voting decisions also varied on a case-by-case basis. The results support emerging findings on the vote-seeking motivation for populist obstructionism in Council decision-making.