Defence industry cooperation, migration and the Ukraine–Russia tension

“The V4 countries are committed members of NATO and the European Union”, emphasized Lajos Kósa, the chairman of the National Assembly Defence and Law Enforcement Committee. He said that “the topics high on the agenda of the meeting are migration and the status of defence industry cooperation, joint battle groups and procurements among the Visegrád Four countries, as well as the tension between Ukraine and Russa”.

In his lecture, Lieutenant General Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi PhD spoke about the present and future defence cooperation among the V4 countries and the status of joint procurements. He informed the participants about the status of the V4 countries’ defence procurement strategy and highlighted the importance of joint training events and close cooperation.

In summing up the essence of the meeting, the commander of the Hungarian Defence Forces pointed out that cooperation is also important to the V4 countries because due to their geographic proximity, they have common interests and face similar threats and challenges. “On the military side, we are doing our best to deal with all those things in the framework of our NATO or EU membership. Insofar as the parliaments are willing to support these efforts, our cooperation will become easier and we will sooner be able to achieve results”, added Lieutenant General Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi PhD.

Speaking about the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the lieutenant general told us that “we are watching everything, this is the most important thing. We are monitoring the events as they unfold independently, on a national basis and also together with our allies. I am on very good terms with the Ukrainian chief of defence, so I can discuss the developments with him, too. These pieces of information add up to form the picture which will help us to stand ready should anything unexpected occur.”

After approving the final declaration, the heads of delegations held a joint press conference, where Lajos Kósa said that the participating sides decided to agree on long-term strategic cooperation. They intend to take action by continuously seeking and creating coordinated defence industry procurements, as well as forms of cooperation in the fields of national defence and the economy. He pointed out that mass migration has recently appeared as a new means of blackmail, and the representatives of the countries in attendance intend to draw the EU member states’ attention to this challenge.