Hungary is for joint financing

After the meeting the Hungarian defence minister referred to the fact that due to the deteriorating economic situation, donor countries are showing less willingness to support joint financing. In the defence ministerial meeting, Germany for example represented the concept that the alliance should return to the former practice and countries should cover their own costs.

The development of heavy airlift capability based on the C-17 airplanes in Pápa is an example of multinational cost-sharing cooperation. There are some similar plans, for instance the preparation and training project for helicopters to be deployed in Afghanistan. Hungary is making efforts to extend the scale of cooperations of this nature. The defence minister also mentioned that the issue of the NATO radar in Hungary needs to be resolved urgently, and he can see a possible solution, ’a light at the end of the tunnel’. Csaba Hende pointed out that the radar cannot be constructed on Tubes. The minister also told the press that at the moment some 40 percent of the nearly 1,000 Hungarian troops posted abroad are in Afghanistan. This rate will soon rise to some 50 per cent. This autumn Hungarian soldiers will assume control of Kabul Airfield and they also continue their training activities in Afghanistan.

During the Brussels meetings, the new Hungarian defence minister had bilateral talks with Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who expressed his appreciation for Hungarian contribution to joint NATO operations. In his meeting with Mark Sedwill, minister Hende and NATO’s senior civilian representative in Afghanistan exchanged their views on Hungary’s commitment in the Central Asian country. In the meeting of Csaba Hende and the Czech defence minister, the parties discussed Czech participation in the training of Hungarian pilots. The Hungarian minister also thanked the country for their help in flood protection. Csaba Hende also met the British defence secretary.

The Hungarian defence minister said: in the ministerial meeting the Hungarian MoD requested the postponement of defence development plans for a year, owing to a serious backlog in the fulfilment of commitments made earlier.