It is undeniable that the security environment of Europe significantly worsened last year – Minister of Defence Csaba Hende pointed out at a meeting of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly Defence and Security Committee in Budapest on Saturday, 16 May.

In his presentation, Minister Hende said that 70 years have passed since the end of the Second World War, so the societies’ sense of threat has decreased. It has become clear to everyone that “the coming of the happy times of peace in the 21st century is an illusion” – he added.

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As he explained, the flow of refugees from the Middle East and North Africa puts a huge migration pressure on the eastern and southern countries of Europe, which presents an increasing challenge to the western countries too. He reminded his audience that suddenly thousands of people crossed the borders illegally in the villages of southern Hungary this January. Those living in the eastern border regions can see close by the difficulties faced by the people living on the Ukrainian side of the border. Speaking about the latter, he said that an unpredictable armed conflict had arisen very quickly in the direct neighborhood of Hungary, in Ukraine.

The Minister also stated that the Arab Spring, the instability generated from Yemen to Syria favors the advance of extremists, and the terrorists promoting the ideas of Islam radicalism have created their own state. The Islamic State is threatening Europe too – Minister Hende pointed out, noting that we have to prepare ourselves for further potential terror attacks in Europe.

Furthermore, the Minister of Defence emphasized that we have to face new security challenges in the wake of the climate change. The extreme weather conditions have led to increasing drought, shrinking arable lands and the chronic shortage of water, which added fuel to the conflicts in Yemen and Syria, and the increasing poverty exacerbated the existing tensions in society. According to Minister Hende, future conflicts may arise between states over issues like, for example, a dam on the River Nile. Besides, the melting of the Arctic sea ice has created a number of shipping routes that provide access to earlier unexploited fields of crude oil and natural gas. Because of these, we have to prepare ourselves for worsening security in these regions. To avoid this, the countries involved should exercise self-restraint and comply with international law, the Minister said.

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“We have to take it seriously that our security environment has significantly worsened”, the Minister stated, pointing out that the defence sector – which has become underfinanced due to the economic crisis – must be strengthened. In his opinion, so far NATO has properly reacted to the new challenges, and the transatlantic alliance has become stronger. The decisions taken at NATO’s Wales Summit last year – such as the increasing defence budgets of member states – were not even open to debate previously, Minister Hende added, pointing out that Hungary will completely fulfill the commitments it made at the NATO Summit. By way of example, the Minister emphasized that during the week a motion was put forward to increase the budget of the Ministry of Defence by around HUF 50 billion next year. “This means some 20 per cent increase in the budget”, he added.

He also stated that Hungary had earlier undertaken in a government decision to increase the defence budget by 0.1 per cent of the GDP every year until 2022. According to Minister Hende, taking into account the growth of Hungarian economy, Hungary will at least double its defence budget in seven years.

After Minister Hende’s presentation, the representatives of several member states welcomed the news about the increasing Hungarian defence expenditures and the Hungarian Defence Forces’ contributions to NATO exercises and missions.

At the same time, the representative of the Netherlands expressed concern about Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s “relationship with the Russian president”. As he noted, Vladimir Putin has proven to be a “cheater playing games”, so he cannot be regarded as a friend of NATO. For this reason, the Dutch representative was of the opinion that Hungary’s position on the crisis in Ukraine is questionable.

In his answer, Minister Hende stated that solidarity can be demonstrated with military force, and Hungary has recently demonstrated it indeed on an exercise held in Lithuania, where the participants were practicing ways to respond to a possible attack against Lithuania from the east. Minister Hende also said that Hungary and Lithuania had recently renewed their defence cooperation, which includes Hungary’s participation in the Baltic Air Policing mission for four months as of this September.

There have not been any differences between the position of Hungary and that of other NATO member states in the key issues, the Minister pointed out, adding that Hungary will fulfill all the commitments it is obliged to by the common system of values and the collective decisions of the Alliance. Addressing the representative of the Netherlands, Minister Hende asked him to call attention to any divergences from the above that he might find in Hungary’s governmental and defence policies, so that they can be open to debate. 

After the Minister of Defence, Chief of Defence Gen. Dr. Tibor Benkő gave a presentation, in which he talked about the role of the Hungarian Defence Forces in NATO exercises and missions so far and in those scheduled for next year. According to the General, the measures and plans presented by him and Minister Hende show that Hungary is a reliable member of NATO, has the capacity to implement the tasks it undertakes, and contributes to the Alliance’s capability of giving effective responses to new security challenges.

The Spring Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly continued on Sunday with meetings of the Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security (CDS) and the Political Committee, and closed with a plenary session on Monday.

(Ministry of Defence)