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Hungary is committed to Nato and to peace in Europe

Alliance membership requires obligations and sacrifices and Budapest has always been ready to be a valuable part of joint efforts .Last week Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, announced that the UK’s military spending would rise to 2.5 per cent of the national income by 2030. He also stressed that the UK was “not on the brink of war” but claimed that the extra money would put the country’s defense industry “on a war footing”.

Similarly, the old Latin phrase says: Si vis pacem, para bellum, which translates to: If you want peace, prepare for war. The new Hungarian approach – which is very topical in view of the recent geopolitical changes – is actually the rephrasing of this old adage: Peace requires strength.

Following Brexit, one of the foundations of our partnership with the UK is NATO, where we are steadfast allies. Our countries both surpass the 2 per cent mark in terms of defense expenditure, making us some of the top contributors in the organization, and Hungary is committed to increasing its share further: to 2.61 per cent of the GDP by 2030. In the year of the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s accession to Nato, I am confident that this number alone shows my country’s deep-rooted commitment to the alliance. But we are doing much more than just providing the right defense budget.

Hungary’s NATO accession enjoyed the support of our political spectrum and the overwhelming majority of the Hungarian population. It was clear for us from the outset that this membership brings not only benefits, but also obligations and sacrifices, and Hungary has always been ready to be a valuable part of NATO,s joint efforts. The sweeping reform and modernization of the armed forces has been and continues to be an integral part of this process. At the moment, we are retiring the last remnants of our obsolete Soviet-era pieces in our defense equipment, and the most state-of-the-art systems are taking over their places, which are mostly made in Europe, such as the excellent Gripen fighter jets which are partly British products.

Our military’s attitude and performance has been widely acknowledged in the 25 years behind us. This is particularly underpinned by the Hungarian Defense Forces’ foreign deployments and operations led by Nato, our participation in Afghanistan and, currently, in Kosovo in the framework of KFOR. The long track record of our military contribution in multinational mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina has recently reached a milestone: a Hungarian commander has been leading Operation EUFOR Althea in Sarajevo since January this year.

Another important field of Hungary’s engagement in NATO is the Baltic Air Policing, which is a collective defensive mission to maintain the security and integrity of the Alliance’s airspace in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Hungary has so far undertaken three of these assignments, first in 2015, then in 2019 and most recently between August and November 2022, at some of the heights of the war in Ukraine. This task provides not only vital support to our Baltic allies, but it is also a great test of our cutting-edge Gripen fleet and the skills of our brilliant fighter pilots. Therefore, we intend to do this again in 2025.

The Russia-Ukraine war, the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, the instability in the Sahel region and the prolonged tensions in the Western Balkans all have dire impact on the security of Europe. NATO and the transatlantic link that it embodies is an indispensable tool for tackling these challenges and threats.

In the midst of these difficulties, it is particularly important that Nato and its members maintain the spirit of readiness, solidarity, and unity. At the same time, we must preserve the Alliance’s defensive nature, which means that Nato must stay out of the tragic conflict currently taking place in our eastern neighborhood. Hungary’s position is clear: NATO should remain a defense alliance, as it was when we joined 25 years ago, and as it has been throughout its entire 75 years of existence.

 

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