The security of Central Europe is one and indivisible

The minister said that the CEDC defence ministers attending the meeting had reasserted their commitment to the security and stability of the region, in cooperation with their Western Balkans partners. They reviewed the latest developments of the Ukraine War, with special regard to recent drone incidents. Hungary assures its affected allies of its full solidarity. Cases like these, too, cast light upon the serious risks of escalation, and that is why we need to support the American efforts to make peace with all our might.

Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky emphasized that Brussels is going the wrong way once again, when it puts Ukraine before Hungarian and Slovak energy security or even the EU accession of Western Balkan countries. The EU’s enlargement policy should be merit-based, and all decisions should support the interests of member states. The stability of the Western Balkans continues to be crucial for the security of our region, of the CEDC countries, and of Europe in the wider sense. For this reason, we are doing all we can to accelerate the EU accession talks of Western Balkan countries – underlined the minister.

He pointed out that the lessons learned in the last one decade make it clear that the CEDC is more than just a forum for discussing security policy – it is an active community that brings together its members to take action against security challenges to the region. He added that Hungary and its CEDC partners had discussed the results achieved so far in strengthening the EU’s defence posture, while we give priority to addressing the most urgent military capability shortfalls in Europe in the soonest possible time and to accelerating capability development.

The minister of defence highlighted that Hungary is at the forefront of implementing the armed forces development program, and fully meets its commitments within the framework of NATO. Starting from this September, Hungary has organized the joint, country defence Exercise Adaptive Hussars already for the third time within a whole-of-government framework, with the objective of testing the defence posture and capabilities of the Hungarian Defence Forces and strengthening cooperation within the defence framework of the Alliance.

The minister underscored that this defence posture not only means equipment, good training and exercises, but also the development of service personnel, in which Hungary leads the way. It was in this spirit that we have launched our contract and territorial defence reservist recruitment campaigns, which confirm our efforts with great success. Never before have so many joined the Hungarian Defence Forces in such a short time than in these close to 18 months, which makes Hungary stand out on the regional level, so that it has earned recognition from its allies” – said Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky in closing his speech.