The European leg of the North-Atlantic alliance must be reinforced as it will lead nowhere if we always rely on the assumption that the United States will protect us if we are in trouble. We, too, must have adequate capacity, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday at the international parliamentary NATO conference held in the Parliament Building.
The Minister highlighted that fundamentally four factors determine our security environment: the future of relations between NATO and Russia, the fight against the Islamic State, the impacts of the new US foreign policy, and the stabilisation of the situation in the Middle-East and in North-Africa. These factors are all mutually connected.
He said: relations between NATO and Russia must be pragmatic, and must be based on mutual respect. This is the only way to achieve genuine rest and peace in the region. Central-Europe knows only too well that when the East and the West were on bad terms, it was usually this region that suffered, he reiterated.
Mr Szijjártó urged an agreement between the United States and Russia regarding the situation in the Middle-East and North-Africa. As he said, if the two countries are unable to reach an agreement regarding the path leading to peace and stability, there will be no peace in Syria, and the pressure of migration will likewise not come to an end.
The Foreign Minister pointed out: Hungary is a committed member of the international coalition for the fight against the Islamic State, and maintains its role in that coalition.
Regarding the prospective foreign policy of the United States, he said that „there is not much point in provoking hysterics”. We must wait and see what will happen, and must in the meantime respect the decision of the American people. We sincerely hope that the standard of economic and defence cooperation will remain the same, and that political cooperation will enter a new and better phase, he said.
He remarked: Hungary is a committed supporter of cooperation between the EU and NATO, and NATO must undertake a role in the struggle against the pressure of migration as it is a security issue that the EU should rise to this challenge.
Mr Szijjártó also mentioned that the enlargement of NATO cannot end with the admission of Montenegro. Macedonia and Georgia, too, deserve to be admitted to the alliance which would also reinforce the values of NATO, he said in evaluation.
The Foreign Minister stressed: the implementation of the decisions adopted at the NATO summits held in Wales and Warsaw cannot wait. If the community hesitates, we shall not have a chance to manage the current grave challenges. Among these challenges he mentioned the war in Ukraine, the Islamic State, the increased threat of terrorism, the issues of energy security and cyber security, and further the events taking place in Europe’s southern and south-east neighbourhood. Each of these individually would pose a formidable task, but now we must face them all at once, he pointed out.
Lord Jopling, Vice-President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly highlighted: the alliance is required to face far more challenges at present than before, and meanwhile its tasks have multiplied and the old commitments must also be observed, including, for instance, the continuation of its activities in the Western Balkans and in Afghanistan.
NATO has adopted important decisions at its last two summits in the interest of handling these challenges, he reiterated. He took the view that, in the light of the US presidential election, there is greater pressure on the European allies to provide an adequate contribution for NATO, or else Trans-Atlantic unity could become compromised.
The Vice-President of NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly was of the opinion that Brexit does not change the fact that Britain is a committed member of the alliance. Lord Jopling additionally spoke about the efforts made by Hungary as a Member State of the alliance in words of praise.