“We Are At The Third Place Within The NATO”

In the introduction to his lecture, the minister mentioned that following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia faced a number of fundamental geopolitical and economic changes: not only did it lost its eastern allies, but also many Russians fell outside the borders of the nation state. Nevertheless, the international status of the new Russia emerging on the ruins of the Soviet Union has strengthened by today – Moscow has given up the Soviet positions, lost its scope of duties related to the Cold War, but it has exchanged its political influence for economic influence, and today it is a world leader in the export of energy carriers and it asserts its national interests efficiently. The problems, however, have not ceased to exist: the population of the country is decreasing and as regards the infrastructure, it is underdeveloped. In addition to that, Russia has to face new challenges and risks.

As regards its foreign relations, the current Russian leadership has friendly relations with China and India. While with its unilateral steps the Bush administration presented Moscow with actual facts – such as supporting the ’coloured revolutions’ evolving in the former Soviet states and planning the American missile defence system –, the US government

The minister emphasized: since the European energy sources have been depleted and there is a lack of alternative sources of energy, in issues of energy security Russia is a factor that cannot be omitted. In the fight against terrorism it is also important to have good relations with Moscow, considering that the strengthening of Islam fundamentalism is not unfamiliar to Russia and the country actively participates in the fight against terror when fighting its own separatists. Therefore everyone is interested in the exchange of experiences, not to mention that the support given by Russia to the operations in Afghanistan is important for the NATO. During the lecture the question of weapons of mass destruction was also raised, naturally: Imre Szekeres reminded the audience that winning Russia over to the cause is important in terms of the nuclear crisis in Iran as well.

After the lecture the students had the opportunity to ask questions. Regarding the possible accession of Georgia and the Ukraine to the NATO, and the related involvement of Russia Imre Szekeres emphasized: in the Alliance it is a matter of principle that a state can join provided it is ready for that both politically and militarily. Like the minister said, in order to be in such a position both countries have to complete quite a long process. "If a country would like to join, no other countries can interfere in that, but enlargement is only possible if it does not entail problems that are cannot be solved by the NATO. In other words, in the case of both the Ukraine and Georgia accession is an issue that is independent of Russia, but they have to settle their relations with Moscow. Once this happens, presumably Russia will not raise objections against their integration either" – said the minister, who also reminded the students of the successful outcome of the integration process of the Baltic states.

Imre Szekeres noted concerning this issue: although it is in a different situation than the two post-Soviet states, but Serbia for instance decided last week that it authorizes the activity of Serbian soldiers in NATO operations. "I sent a telegram immediately to the Serbian defence minister, saying we are ready to receive Serbian staff officers at the Hungarian PRT in Baghlan. This is another positive example of the road of integration."

In his response to a question about the relations between China and the NATO, the minister said: China is a great power with a significant influence, the NATO, however, represents the interests of mainly Europe and North America, while China is active in the Asian sphere of interest. “Political cooperation is important, naturally, and China has to be involved in the solution of global problems"  pointed out Imre Szekeres, who also said that HungarianChinese relations are especially good and extensive within the NATO, and Hungary is the only NATO member state that also has a military cooperation with Beijing.

To the question concerning the GDP-proportionate defence budget of NATO member states, Imre Szekeres replied: he believes it is sufficient that our country expends 1.21.3 per cent on average on national defence. "Hungary still has a lot to do in the field of health care or education for instance, therefore I would not willingly spend more than this on national defence; nevertheless, a lot of things can be done from this amount as well," said the minister. To support the efficient distribution of resources the minister reminded the audience that from the 24,500 personnel serving in the defence forces today 21,700 are working at the corps, and at top level the full integration of military and civil leadership has been completed. There has been a significant drop in the number of background institutions as well. "For the success of the reform the work of the excellent soldiers of the defence forces was also necessary, and I take my hat off to them," said Imre Szekeres.

The defence minister made it clear that the ministry brings out the maximum from the available funds. “Among the 27 member states of the NATO, Hungary has the third best performance; only the United States and the United Kingdom precede us in terms of the only decisive index. And that is the percentage of land forces serving in theatres of operations at the moment. In the case of the United States this ratio is 14.8 per cent, in the United Kingdom it is 12 per cent, and in Hungary it is 11.98 per cent," Imre Szekeres listed the numbers. He also reminded the audience that the ratio of deployable forces in the military is 36 per cent at the present, but our ultimate goal is to reach 50 per cent. The reason why this is important is because it is only a mobile military that can be deployed rapidly at any given time that is of use in the first place.

The minister also emphasized that even though the member states should spend 2 per cent of their GDP on defence, there are only five countries that fulfil this: the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, in other words, the three great powers, moreover Turkey and Greece. But as regards the latter two their participation in missions is negligible compared to that of Hungary’s. Imre Szekeres also mentioned the need for joint financing of joint tasks, and brought up the SAC program at Pápa as a positive example, in the framework of which 12 states have joined their efforts and jointly finance the Strategic Airlift Capabilities.

One of the students asked the minister about Iran. "It is not the NATO that has a debate with Iran but the UN," stated Imre Szekeres. "The world does not want to interfere in the internal affairs of Iran, the only thing it wants to achieve is that the International Atomic Energy Agency can supervise the process of enriched uranium production in Iran." The minister underlined that such a process must be dealt with before Iran would own a nuclear weapon. "Naturally, Iran also has the right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, it only has to guarantee controllability. In Hungary there are two nuclear reactors, one in Paks and another at the Central Physical Research Institute (KFKI), and they are under constant supervision as well. This is all that is demanded from Iran, too, and this is what it does not comply with."

Imre Szekeres will deliver a second lecture at the university on 19 November.