Hungary is an experienced, committed, cooperating and reliable ally of NATO, Defence Minister Dr István Simicskó said on 17 November at the 20th International Parliamentary NATO Conference held in the Parliament Building.
The Minister pointed out in his lecture: the 21st century is an age of specific struggles when, in addition to the old ones, new threats have also emerged. The number of unstable states have increased in recent years, an increasingly large number of terrorist attacks have been carried out in Europe, and illegal immigration, too, poses a major problem.
A new theatre of war has come into being with technological advancement: cyber space has emerged as a new war of theatre, in addition to land, sea areas and the air space. In his words, NATO must respond to these challenges, and solidarity between the Member States must be reinforced as we need this now more than ever. He reiterated that the Hungarian Government agreed to raise its defence expenditures by 0.1 per cent to GDP annually up to 2026 which will as a result increase to 2 per cent of GDP.
The Minister described cooperation between the European Union and NATO as essential. In this context, he remarked that the EU is slowly beginning to appreciate the threats of terrorism. Mr Simicskó stressed that we need specific action, and from this respect, Hungary is a country that seeks to initiate and shape the reinforcement of European security.
He said that it is clear: the EU must undertake greater responsibility and make more sacrifices in order to avert the threats it is facing. Regarding action against Islamic State, he stressed: a common denominator must be found concerning the issue of cooperation outside NATO, and we must not allow terrorist bases to relocate to other unstable countries.
Mr Simicskó said: we need new national security and military strategies, while the need also emerges for a defence and military development programme. One of the key points of the reform of the entire system is the extension of the system of voluntary reservists. The goal is to have soldiers in every district, he added. At the end of the military development programme – in some ten to twelve years’ time – the Hungarian Defence Forces would have decisive strength, thereby reinforcing the protection of NATO and the EU, he said.
Péter Siklósi, Deputy State Secretary for defence policy and defence planning at the Ministry of Defence, Vice-President of the Hungarian Atlantic Council spoke about the expected foreign policy of the new US President and the related aspirations in his lecture. He pointed out that there are three corner stones upon which NATO must insist: the first one is that we must rise to the challenges in a close alliance. The second one is that the validity of Article 5 of NATO regarding collective defence must not be called into question to any degree. The third one is that the defence budgets of the Member States and their respective contributions to the Alliance must be increased.
Among others, Speaker of the House Lászó Kövér, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, and Lord Thomas Michael Jopling, Vice-President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly also delivered lectures at the conference.
(Ministry of Defence)
