Prime Minister Viktor Orbán arrived in The Hague on Tuesday for the NATO Summit, which is taking place from June 24 to 25.Continue reading
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán believes a turning point has been reached at the current NATO Summit: while last year’s meeting was still about Ukraine, now the majority of countries did not want to put the Ukrainian issue on the agenda.
“Ukraine is barely mentioned in the final document, with the focus instead on how to strengthen Europe,” he pointed out.
At the Summit, NATO member states have agreed to spend five percent of their GDP on defense by 2035. According to Prime Minister Orbán, Hungary will only be able to meet this target if the European Union modifies its budgetary rules. He emphasized that Hungary had already begun developing its armed forces in 2016–2017, and that investments in the defense industry could generate not only expenditure but also revenue in the longer term.
He stressed that significant developments are needed in the areas of transport, healthcare, education, and national defense over the next ten years. At the same time, he emphasized that under a national government, defense spending strengthens Hungary, while a pro-Ukraine government would instead send these resources to Kyiv.
Orbán also reported that he had held separate talks with U.S. President Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye on security issues.
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, also believes that the latest NATO Summit differed radically from the meetings held over the past three years, primarily due to the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. He said that “with Trump, peace efforts have returned,” and that the focus is finally on strengthening the alliance’s own defense capabilities rather than Ukraine’s NATO membership. The final declaration reaffirmed NATO’s collective defense commitments and stated that support for Ukraine is the sovereign decision of each member state.
The Minister emphasized that Hungary is among the leaders in developing defense capabilities, as the government allocates 45 percent of its military budget specifically to capability development, so the target set for 2035—spending five percent of GDP on defense—is realistic.
Part of the spending will go toward traditional national defense, and the rest will be used to develop critical infrastructure. Among the decisions adopted at the summit, he highlighted that NATO recognized illegal migration as a risk, reinforced its southern strategy, and made recommendations for the rapid introduction of innovative technologies. “We agree that countering hybrid threats is the responsibility of every nation,” Foreign Minister Szijjártó said.
Via MTI; Featured photo: Facebook/Viktor Orbán
