Csaba Hende: Berlin Hails Planned Hungarian Role in Fight Against Islamic State
Szöveg: honvedelem.hu / MTI | 2015. március 22. 9:34“The German government welcomes and supports Hungary’s planned engagement in the international action against the Islamic State terrorist organization”, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende told Hungarian News Agency MTI on Tuesday, March 17 after his discussions with the German Defence Minister.
Minister Hende emphasized that, while speaking about this matter at the meeting, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that “it is very reassuring to know that Hungarian troops will safeguard the life and bodily integrity of German soldiers". He added that while discussing the crisis in Ukraine, they concluded that “the Hungarian and the German positions are practically the same".
“Hungary and Germany share the opinion that the conflict has no military solution, so only a negotiated settlement is possible. For this reason, neither Budapest nor Berlin supports the idea of arms supplies", Minister Hende said.
Speaking about the implementation of the Minsk II package of measures aimed at a political settlement of the crisis, he pointed out that “although the armistice is fragile, there is hope that Minsk II can be kept alive." To achieve this, it is essential to send a sufficient number of observers to the crisis zone. In this, “Hungary leads the way", as it ranks fifth among the member states considering the number of observers contributed to the Ukraine mission of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Minister pointed out.
Minister Hende said that Hungary and Germany are among those NATO member countries which are consistently implementing the decisions taken at the Wales Summit last year, so they have increased their defence budgets. In connection with the Readiness Action Plan approved at the Summit, he added that Germany supports the establishment of a NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) in Hungary.
Speaking about a proposal for the establishment of a common European army made by Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, Minister Hende said that the governments of Hungary and Germany have the same opinion on this matter too, because they consider it “a very exciting and revolutionary" initiative, which, however, can only be realized in the long run, and “must not be implemented at the expense of the ongoing defence cooperation in NATO and between Europe and the United States."
Photo: bmvg.de
