“The security of the Hungarian people is the Government’s top priority, and this is why it has begun the total reorganisation and development of the Hungarian Defence Force”, Minister of Defence Tibor Benkő declared at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels on Friday.

At his press conference following a meeting of NATO Defence Ministers, Mr. Benkő emphasised that the changes ongoing in the world bear with them significant dangers to Europe, including Hungary. Accordingly, it is the common task of all NATO member states to deal much more intensively with the issue of maintaining security.

The Minister pointed out that the North Atlantic Treaty states that all nations must act independently to ensure that they can establish and maintain a strong defence capability. The military alliance is strong if its partner countries have strong defence capabilities.

He declared that one of the greatest challenges of the upcoming years will be migration, which the military organisation must also face and against which it must also take joint action. He stressed that in view of the increased threat of terrorism people cannot be allowed to enter Europe and Hungary in an unauthorised manner.

As he explained, more challenges means a greater military presence, which in turn means more rapid reaction and an increased level of preparedness. In the interests of achieving this, Hungary is thinking in terms of driving elements that facilitate the establishment and maintaining of Central European security. This equates to land and special operations capabilities, and to cooperation with the countries of the Visegrád Group via the establishment of a joint logistics centre command in Hungary by 2020. The central command will be tasked with coordinating the joint operations of the participating countries. In the interests of faster and more efficient deployment, operational divisions may also be established in the form of land forces, he added.

As he explained during his bilateral meeting with the Ukrainian Defence Minister, the main topics of discussion were military and defence issues, in view of the fact that the peace, security and stability of the neighbouring country is important to Hungary. At the meeting, Mr. Benkő stressed that the future of Transcarpathian Hungarians is extremely important to Hungary, and their rights cannot be restricted. The Minister expressed his hope that the parties will find the path to a solution, towards which Hungary will be providing all possible assistance.

(MTI)