Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s press statement after his meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the 19th of November in 2015.

Good afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to make a short statement. First of all, I would like to welcome to Hungary the Secretary General of NATO, who commands our respect not only on account of the office he holds. A little-known but important fact is that he features on an important Hungarian list: of the rescuers of Hungarians. In 1956 his father helped refugees across the Austrian-Hungarian border, and was personally involved in ensuring that Hungarian families did not perish on their journeys. I would like to welcome him, not only as former Prime Minister of Norway and Secretary General of NATO, but also as a friend of Hungary and the representative of a family which rescued Hungarians.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I can tell you the following about our talks. First of all, I reassured the Secretary General that Hungary will continue to participate in its current missions. We believe that our involvement in the air-policing mission in the Baltic region under the auspices of NATO is successful. We are proud that we had the opportunity to send units to Lithuania last year, and I made clear to the Secretary General that Hungary will also continue to honour its commitment in Afghanistan in 2016. We agreed, and Hungary has pledged not to reduce the size of its troop involvement in international missions. Hungarians have good reason to be proud of their military, and the Hungarian government is likewise proud of the fact that at present we have some one thousand excellent soldiers serving in different missions outside the country’s borders, and we shall maintain this rate and percentage of involvement.

We made a promise last year at the NATO summit in Wales, and the Secretary General now asked us to make good on that promise. Luckily we have been able to answer him in the affirmative. According to this promise, Hungary has pledged to increase its military spending to match that of other Member States. There is a golden ratio which we should reach: two per cent of the gross domestic product. We do not need to reach this next year, but over a longer period. We must nonetheless raise our military spending every year. This is not just something obligatory for Hungary – although it is, because we have agreed to it – but it is also in Hungary’s national interest, because the reinforcement of our army is an absolute necessity. Today the Hungarian defence forces are not in a state to make a satisfactory contribution to the country’s military security. We have excellent soldiers and excellent military leaders, but in the period ahead we must increase the size of our defence forces. This is in our national interest, and we shall act accordingly.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We also talked about the two crisis zones which pose a threat to our region. I explained to the Secretary General that Hungary is cooperating with Ukraine as closely as possible. We believe that Ukraine is a country heading in the right direction, but it is still far from being a stable country. Hungary will therefore provide all the assistance it can in the stabilisation of Ukraine. And we also spoke about the other crisis zone, from which migrants are coming to Europe today – along with terrorists. This is the southern crisis zone, where Hungary – as you may know – is playing a significant role. Our commitment is not only financial and we are not only sending materiel, but there are regions where we have also sent military personnel who are involved in training responsibilities and playing an important role, thereby earning with their service there the appreciation of the international community; not only the appreciation of the Kurdish government, the Kurdish Regional Government, but that of the entire international community.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I also explained to our guest that Hungary is taking the war on terrorism seriously. We can no longer speak about simply a threat of terrorism, as this is no longer merely a theoretical problem; we are experiencing actual terrorist attacks. We must change our logic; we have so far observed those arriving in Europe through the prism of migration and asylum. The terrorist attacks direct our attention to a fact which we must take seriously: people are coming to the European Union from zones in which some Member States of the EU are – to varying degrees – at war. This is the situation in Syria, this is the situation in the territory of Iraq, and we are also involved in military operations in the territory of Afghanistan. The inescapable logic of all war is that opposing forces seek opportunities to send subversive units to strike behind enemy lines. This law is as old as war itself, and we must take seriously the fact that those today flooding into the territory of the European Union in an uncontrolled and unregulated manner are coming from territories from where the dispatch of such subversive groups is seen as a worthwhile strategy. What we now see, and what we call terrorism, is the product of this. With regard to the understanding and management of the whole migrant flow from the south and the measures we employ, I therefore believe that we must recognise that we are dealing with people coming from territories controlled by forces directing acts of war against us. We must draw the necessary conclusions, and we must make controls even stricter. It is essential that we know the exact identity, origin and intentions of every person entering the territory of the EU. Without this, there will be no peace and there will be no security in Europe, and we shall not be able to protect the lives of the citizens of the Hungarian nation and the other nations of Europe.

Thank you for your attention.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister)