The decisions of the NATO summit held on Friday in Newport, Wales, significantly improve the military security of Hungary and Central Europe – Viktor Orbán Prime Minister told Hungarian journalists at the venue, after the meeting.

Mr Orbán declared that Hungary, just like the other states of the alliance, would increase military spending and that the participants of the summit had “translated” the so far theoretical security guarantees of NATO into concrete facts.

"This NATO summit has been very successful for Hungary", said the Prime Minister adding that each decision taken significantly improves the military security of both Hungary and Central Europe.

Download

"The decision of the Hungarian people when they voted by a referendum to join NATO seems now justified", said Mr Orbán. He pointed out that “we can guarantee the security of Hungary only and exclusively within the framework of NATO".

He explained that the Hungarian army needed to be developed. But even so it would only be able to guarantee the country’s security within the framework of NATO. The Prime Minister also added that all the decisions made at the summit in Wales would strengthen this security.

"Everybody will increase their military spending; we will also acquire new equipment. NATO-troops will appear in the region of Central Europe”, he said. He also mentioned that Hungary would significantly strengthen the airport of Pápa serving as a base for strategic cargo aircraft, and Hungarian soldiers would participate in the military exercises to be held in the Baltic states.

Download

However, according to the Prime Minister, the most important decision was that the so far theoretical general security guarantees of NATO were “translated into concrete facts”. This means that each of the counties concerned in the region will prepare those military plans by the end of the year which will be exploited if the countries face a direct military threat.

In Mr Orbán’s opinion, this decision has remarkably strengthened the eastern wing of NATO and Central Europe, as well as improved the security of the people living in the region.

As for increased military spending, the Prime Minister recalled that Hungary had already declared its intentions to gradually increase its security spending.

Now, the country has committed itself to speeding up this plan to an extent that will be decided by the Hungarian Parliament, he added.

Regarding the situation in Ukraine and Russia, Mr Orbán emphasised that the sanctions are not beneficial to Hungary and the solution must be found through negotiations and agreements.

However, the security of the country is a different issue that is independent of the current events, he added.

Mr Orbán said that this security must be strengthened, which the current events provide a good reason for now, but in fact it should have already been done earlier. According to the Prime Minister, the reason behind this negligence is that there was no threat that would have urged this work.

Regarding the fact that the Russian media has accused Hungary of transporting tanks to Ukraine, Mr Orbán said that he had asked for a report by the Minister of Defence which confirmed that “Hungary did not transport tanks anywhere".

(MTI / Prime Minister's Office)