War Must Be Ended

At the traditional meeting at the beginning of the new year, the defence minister recalled that it will be three years since the Russo-Ukrainian War broke out on 24 February. “Approximately 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory is still occupied by the Russians. The war took the lives of hundreds of thousands. There is no other possibility but to end the war immediately”, he said.

The minister hopes that after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, the United States will also stand up for peace. He added, “We all hope that one of the world’s most powerful states will also join the efforts made for peace, which cause has been supported by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán for months.”

Besides the European theatre of war, the security policy situation in the Western Balkans, Africa and the Middle East is still tense, declared the defence minister, who referred to the ceasefire that came into effect between Israel and Hamas as hopeful news.

Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky also recalled that last year Hungary held the rotating presidency of the European Union. He declared, “Despite the numerous negative comments and anticipations about Hungary’s participation and potential role, the Hungarian EU presidency turned out to be one of historic significance.” The Hungarian leadership initiated a peace mission, achieved Romania’s and Bulgaria’s integration into the Schengen Area and made efforts to promote the integration of Balkan countries.

“Preserving the security of Europeans and strengthening the defence industry was at the top of our agenda during the EU presidency”, he said about Hungary’s second presidency running from 1 July 2024 to 31 December 2024.

The minister praised Major General Dr. László Sticz, Commander, EUFOR Operation Althea, who led the European Union’s peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina “outstandingly, remarkably and professionally” for a year.

He told his audience that Hungary is actively engaged in helping to defend NATO’s Eastern Flank; the Székesfehérvár-based Headquarters Multinational Division Centre (HQ MND-C) has reached its full operational readiness and supports the defence activity of the Alliance as a command element with distinguished significance. Besides, our defence budget reached two percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) already in 2023, so, we fulfilled our defence spending commitment in NATO. The Hungarian Gripen fighter aircraft have been present in the airspace of Slovakia and Slovenia for years, and every three years, in that of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as well. Moreover, the Hungarian Air Force will carry out the tasks of the Baltic Air Policing (BAP) mission this year too.

“West Africa still remains a territory of unpredictable security level”, underlined the defence minister. He highlighted that the Government of Hungary and the Ministry of Defence consider the security situation of the Sahel and West African countries, as well as curbing migration starting from the region as priorities.

Related to the overall armed forces development, he declared that the Hungarian Defence Forces are already using the Panzerhaubitze 2000 HU self-propelled howitzers, the Leopard 2A7HU main battle tanks, the H145M and H225M helicopters and the different versions of the Gidran armoured tactical vehicle. The NASAMS air defence systems mean a leap forward in the development of domestic air defence.

The KC-390 Millennium new-generation, medium-sized military transport aircraft of the Brazilian Embraer aircraft manufacturer arrived to create more operational, modern and better-deployable armed forces. The Italian Army is already testing a Lynx infantry fighting vehicle manufactured in the factory in Zalaegerszeg. As the minister put it, the “Hungarian Defence Forces made a good decision when choosing and starting to manufacture the Lynx, which ranks among the most modern fighting vehicles of the world.”

Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky also said that as a result of the country-wide “I love it, I defend it!” recruitment campaign, 3900 new reservists had already joined the territorial defence forces. “In a country’s armed forces, nothing is more important than human aspects: man is the army’s most important component”, he concluded his thoughts.

Swedish Defence Attaché Lieutenant Colonel Stefan Fredriksson, in his reply speech representing the BMAC, said that sharing the lessons learned honestly is also needed in military diplomacy. He said that the open communication of the Ministry of Defence and the Hungarian Defence Forces is an important element of the military attachés’ work in Budapest.

The reception, besides the defence attachés, was also attended by Chief of Defence General Dr. Gábor Böröndi, Dr. Zsolt Kutnyánszky, MoD State Secretary for Force Development and Defence Policy; László Hajnik, MoD Deputy State Secretary for Defence Policy; Lieutenant General Ferenc Kajári, Deputy Chief of Defence; Major General Zoltán Somogyi, Director of Staff, HDF Defence Staff; Major General Dr. István Kun Szabó, Adjutant General and Director of the Defence Directorate of the Sándor Palace, and Slovakian Major General Tibor Králik, Commander of HQ MND-C.