As a member of the Hungarian delegation led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Minister of Defence István Simicskó attended the NATO Summit and had discussions with his partners in Warsaw on 8-9 July.
The Minister of Defence informed the press that NATO faces a range of strategic level challenges that originate from multiple directions. The Alliance must equally be able to react to challenges coming from the south and from the east. The minister of defence stated that Hungary successfully participates in strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defence posture (DDP), and in the common tasks of the allies. The increase in Hungary’s defence budget also serves this goal. Starting from 2017, the Visegrád Four (V4) countries are going to make a joint contribution to the security of the Baltic region, with Hungary deploying a company to the region in the third quarter of next year.
Dr. István Simicskó told the press that the participants of the Summit discussed how the Alliance could provide more support to help tackling the challenges coming from the south. This is in the immediate interest of every ally, because it would reduce the scale of mass migration. Hungary considers it important that NATO’s “open door” policy continue after the invitation of Montenegro to join the Alliance. The participants agreed that besides the Assurance Measures of the Readiness Action Plan, NATO must remain open to political dialogue with Russia. The minister of defence said that NATO “stands firm in its support to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
NATO and its member states provide “strategic advice and practical (defence, military) support to the reform of Ukraine’s defence and security sector”. As part of the international anti-terrorist coalition, a number of allies, including Hungary, are playing an active role in the fight against the terrorists of the Islamic State. Stabilizing Iraq and Syria is of key importance in the interest of reducing the level of terrorist threat that affects the whole of Europe. At the Summit, the participants reaffirmed that NATO will continue implementing the tailored package of Defence and Related Security Capacity Building (DCB) assistance (e.g. in Jordan and Iraq).
Minister Simicskó emphasized that he has approved the proposal that the Alliance should contribute to stem the flow of illegal migration in the Mediterranean as well, and to strengthen Libya’s stability. The Heads of States and Governments of member countries agreed, in principle, to support the EU’s Operation Sophia. The NATO member states are ready to contribute to capacity building of the Libyan coastguard and navy, if requested by the Libyan government, and to help uphold the arms embargo in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution.
The NATO allies agreed that they still have a lot of work to do to preserve the results achieved so far and to further improve the security situation.
The member states are committed to ensure long-term stability in Afghanistan, as they all have an interest in uprooting terrorism, reducing the flow of migration from the region, and having a secure country in Central Asia that is able to sustain its economic and social development.
The NATO allies appreciate the efforts of the Afghan security forces and their lead role in guaranteeing security, but the country is still in need of NATO’s assistance, and maintaining an effective and capable security force is in the interest of all. Minister Simicskó stated that for this reason, the allies have made a decision to carry on with the Resolute Support training mission and continue national contributions to the financial sustainment of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces until the end of 2020.
The minister of defence announced that Hungary continues to participate in the NATO Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in 2017 with more than 100 troops.