“Hungary continues to share the German position on the handling of the crisis in Ukraine” – Csaba Hende told Hungarian News Agency MTI in a break of the 51st international Munich Security Conference (MSC).
The Minister emphasized that the conflict is going on in a densely populated region, where more weapons would cause even more suffering. Hungary still stands by the position formulated at last Monday’s meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, according to which supplying arms to the military of Ukraine cannot be the solution, the Minister added in a phone interview.
“Instead of adding fuel to the fire, we should extinguish the flames” Minister Hende said referring to hot spot of Eastern Ukraine.
The global security situation – and especially Europe’s situation – has “dramatically changed” over the last year. The Munich conference examines this process through “in-depth analyses”, and some “new approaches” may emerge during the discussions which end on Sunday, the Minister of Defence added, pointing out that the MSC is the most prestigious security policy conference, which has brought together more high-ranking politicians, military leaders and CEOs this year than ever before to discuss the most burning issues.
Minister Hende noted that at a working dinner of NATO Defence Ministers held in Brussels last Thursday, outgoing US Secretary of Defense had said farewell to his colleagues warning them that in today’s turbulent world, NATO is the only serious stabilizing force, and this Alliance– which comprises 28 member states – must be ready to overcome this quite unsettling uncertainty and to guarantee freedom, peace and prosperity.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was among the first speakers of the MSC. He emphasized that NATO cannot be able to meet the growing challenges if the member states continue to reduce their defence spending.
In connection with this, Minister Hende pointed out that the annual growth rate of Hungary’s defence budget will be 8.5 per cent this year. This growth rate has been “unprecedented since the 1989 change of regime”, and shows that “we keep our word”, as Hungary is consistently implementing the decisions taken at NATO’s Wales Summit last year.
The Minister emphasized that the modernization of military equipment in the Hungarian Defence Forces “cannot be postponed any longer, but an even more urgent task is to retain the well-trained and committed soldiers”. The 50 per cent pay raise, to be implemented over four years, serves this purpose, and a large part of it is to be implemented already this year, so there will be a 30 per cent pay increase in 2015, Minister Hende said. He added that the last significant pay raise for soldiers was 12 years ago during the first Orbán government.