The Stability Of The Balkans Is Of Fundamental Interest To Hungary

The defence minister emphasized in the introduction of his lecture: the topic of his previous lecture given at Pannon University also played a major role in Hungarian politics, because the future developments in the Western-Russian relations do matter. Due to the proximity of the countries that were at war, the situation in the Balkans had and still has a direct effect on the security policy situation of Hungary. There are several security policy risks that may influence the economic, political, military, transport, and water management situation of our country, because these actions took place right next to our borders. "The Serbian-Croatian conflict called our attention to the fact how important it is for us that there should be stable conditions in the Balkans area, but for today, this issue has become important for Europe as well," Imre Szekeres pointed out.

"In the Balkans, the conflicts of the previous decade were generated by religious, ethnic, and economic differences. There were other places in Europe with similar tensions, which were peacefully settled by these countries. However, when the former Yugoslavia fell apart, violence appeared, and those who live here paid a big price and sacrificed a lot for the establishment of the new states," said the minister. "It was in 1995 that the Hungarian parliament decided to help the conciliation of the Balkans situation in its own interest: this is why we let the NATO troops in, providing them with plots of land and transport routes for military operations. With this step, Hungary has undertaken a significant role in the conciliation of the situation in the Balkans, and the country continues this effort even today. The reason why we did this was that these war events took place 80-100 kilometres from our borders." Imre Szekeres told the students that in 1999, when the Former Yugoslavia began to withdraw their troops from Kosovo, a slow process of change started in the Balkans, leading towards détante, which has stabilized the security situation of the area for today. It was also the result of this process that at the moment, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Albania are NATO member states, Macedonia is a candidate country, and Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia take part in the Partnership for Peace program. Kosovo is still a delicate issue, its recognition as a sovereign state sparked debates even in EU countries. What the NATO countries were the most concerned about was that one single, large state may result from the possible merger of the two Albanian states, which would not be acceptable for anyone.

The defence minister underlined: during these years, those countries were of primary importance for us where there are Hungarian minorities. “Our political and military relations with Romania and Croatia are good, with Serbia there has been some tension, mainly in connection with the recognition of Kosovo. But Serbian politics has realized in the past few years that Hungary may be the corridor towards the European Union. Today Serbia tries to open up only for the EU; there is a considerable resistance among the population to NATO membership. 56 per cent of the citizens are against membership, which can be explained by the trauma caused by the bombings and the solution for the question of Kosovo. In the region, it is perhaps Bosnia and Herzegovina where the situation is the most difficult, with three nations having to live together, while there is no alternative for the future but the Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian cooperation. In the case of Montenegro, Hungary has undertaken the role of the mentor, and we try to help the accession of the country to the NATO. It is interesting that Montenegro chose us for this role. A Montenegrin infantry platoon is under organization, and they are preparing for their role in Afghanistan under Hungarian supervision.

In another reply, the minister told the students that in his opinion, the integration of Albania and Kosovo would be a significant risk factor, because on this basis, the question of founding Great Bulgaria and Great Serbia could also be raised in the region. At the same time, tensions would grow in Great Albania as well, due to the divided religious, economic, and historic situation. "Apparently, the biggest question in the Balkans is how these people can establish their own inner peace. To this end, a new type of integration has to develop among the nations, and the process leading there will not be simple," said Imre Szekeres.

How can the atrocities committed against Hungarians in Serbia be prevented? – asked one of the students. The minister pointed out: since the Serbian government introduced strict measures in the last 3-4 years, there has been a considerable drop in the number of such cases. “As regards their future, the Hungarians living in Vojvodina (Vajdaság) have to make a decision. Those should explain their ideas of autonomy who will suffer the consequences of the decision, because there cannot be two kinds of autonomies, the territorial and the ethnical one, which do not correspond today, unfortunately. This is why it is difficult to realize the concept of autonomy in this counry today," said the minister.

Concerning the viability of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which often came up, the minister said: Europe is interested in the stabilization of the country and does not want it to fall apart into three pieces that cannot be controlled. Such a situation would further increase the tension, which is not in the interest of Hungary, and this is why Europe also pays special attention to this.