Hungary finds reassuring the American approach to combating terrorism

While addressing the press at the break of the meeting, the minister called the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence a historic event, because in his opinion, the topics of discussion with the new US Secretary of Defense will “chart the course of NATO in the future". James Mattis’ message is that the United States gives even more emphatic support to the collective strengthening of the military alliance, but also expects the allies to pay more contributions to carry their share of the costs in NATO, the minister pointed out.

István Simicskó underlined that Hungary is committed to meeting the previously set spending target of at least 2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and is striving to reach this proportion as soon as possible.

In speaking about the details of the meeting, he said that the ministers agreed that NATO has effectively countered threats from the east, but even more must be done in the fight against the threat of terrorism from the south. It is to be expected that the United States will adopt a more characteristic and determined approach to countering Islamic radicalism, but there was no mention at the meeting of the possibility of launching land operations, the minister added.

Speaking about the NATO–Russia relations, István Simicskó was of the opinion that the military alliance needs to hold a dialogue with Moscow, but besides the will to reaching agreement, the policy of deterrence must be carried on by also adhering to the principle of force. To Hungary, it is important that NATO be a strong alliance, therefore our country participates in improving the sense of security in the Baltic states, he added.

According to information received by Hungarian news agency MTI, at the Brussels meeting, Czech Defence Minister Martin Stropnicky and Slovak Defence Minister Peter Gajdos signed a bilateral agreement on air defence, so the two air forces can coordinate their operation by the middle of this year. After signing the document, Peter Gajdos said that Slovakia will soon start preparing similar agreements on air defence with Hungary and Poland as well.

In his statement, István Simicskó emphasized that Hungary is committed to the ongoing cooperation with the countries of the Visegrád Group, and intends to enhance military cooperation as a further contribution to the security of Europe.

Photo: nato.int and Ministry of Defence