Hungary is Committed to Strengthening European Defence Capabilities

Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that with Boris Pistorius, they had a detailed discussion about the defence priorities of the following six months related to the Hungarian EU presidency starting in less than two weeks. He pointed out that in the age of wars, strengthening defence and security capabilities, including European military capabilities, will be important issues to the presidency. The minister underlined that Hungary lays a great emphasis on strengthening the European defence industry. He recalled that the Hungarian government started the development of the armed forces already in 2016, while the European Union set this goal recently. He added that as an important part of this process, we are also building the defence industry, mostly on European bases. However, the security of Hungary does not begin at its borders. Accordingly, in the spirit of the 360-degree vision and the fight against illegal migration and terrorism, the integration of the Western Balkans and the strengthening of the Sahel will be among the defence priorities of the Hungarian presidency, said the minister.

He also said that during the meeting, they had also discussed the question of supporting Ukraine. He stated that Hungary’s position has been unchanged since the beginning; only an immediate ceasefire and the start of peace talks can stop the war, which does not have a military solution in the current situation. The pro-peace Hungarian government received a further vote of confidence at the 9 June elections; therefore, we still do not support the possible escalation of the conflict and will not send money, weapons or soldiers to the coordinating NATO engagement, nor do we support any such effort of the European Union, reasserted the minister.