FM: NATO commitment to increase spending is a great opportunity for Hungary

Budapest Times

3 days ago

Minister Szijjártó said it was important that allied countries now made a commitment to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense in two categories within 10 years, also in line with Trump's proposal.
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said a new commitment by NATO members to increase their defense spending to at least 5 percent of GDP within ten years is a great opportunity for Hungary.
On the first day of a NATO summit in The Hague, Minister Szijjártó noted that it had been eight years ago that US President Donald Trump first attended a NATO meeting. 'Since that time, theoretically all members fulfilled the target to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense, and Hungary has met the target three years ago,' he said, according to a ministry statement.
Minister Szijjártó said it was important that allied countries now made a commitment to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense in two categories within 10 years, also in line with Trump's proposal.
In recent years, Hungary invested heavily in its defense industry, with demand in the sector expected to increase in the near future, he said. As a result, the commitment offers an opportunity for significant economic development for Hungary, he added.
He said NATO countries also had an obligation to spend 20 percent of defense spending on development and procurement, with Hungary being among the leaders in this area.
'Last year, Hungary's 45 percent rate put it at fourth place in the alliance. And this also means that Hungary spends nearly half of its defense spending on modernisation, new equipment and development in order to guarantee the security of the country, Hungarian people and families in an extremely uncertain international environment, an an era of crises,' he said.
Minister Szijjártó said this was the first occasion since 2022 that the meeting of the military organisation was not focused on stronger support for Ukraine, but on solidifying collective defense. He welcomed that for the first time Ukraine's NATO membership had been'openly and clearly' removed from the agenda, and that the Ukrainian president had not been invited to the official meeting, only an informal dinner.
'I am convinced that by removing Ukraine's NATO membership from the agenda, the world has become a safer place … Because if Ukraine had become a NATO member, it would have resulted in direct confrontation between the North Atlantic Alliance and Russia, and such direct confrontation would obviously equal the outbreak of a third world war,' he added.
He praised the US president's efforts for peace and expressed hope that NATO will finally close ranks in support of this policy.
He also said that Hungary was making efforts not only for its own security but also for its allies. He cited as an example the Hungarian air forces carrying out air policing activities in the airspace of Slovakia, Croatia and Slovenia, and a Hungarian contingent with four aircraft and eighty staff to return to the Baltic states for the fourth time from August.