Working Out the National Military Strategy Is an Important Milestone
Szöveg: hungariandefence.com / MoD Press Office | 2012. szeptember 21. 20:23We have reached a milestone in our national defence policy, as the defence portfolio has worked out the new National Military Strategy – Defence Minister Csaba Hende announced at a press conference held after a five-party consultation in Budapest on September 21.
the decay of the Hungarian Defence Forces", the stabilization of the system and the launch of
sustainable development process. To achieve these goals, the national armed forces will be
reinforced with effectively deployable capabilities and complemented with a well-functioning
system of volunteer reserve, the Minister added.
According to Csaba Hende, the renewal of the military strategy has become necessary
because the previous document did not reckon with the very severe and lasting consequences
of the global economic crisis, which have constrained the options for planning the defence
budget as well.
The Minister pointed out that the unpredictability of long-term events adds further
significance to the role of the military, and so makes its development necessary. According
to Csaba Hende, the current state of the Hungarian Defence Forces presents a mixed picture:
they have constrained financial options and obsolete military equipment which is running out,
but there are more and more soldiers with international experience.
In view of the above, “the creation of a modern military force with flexibly and effectively
deployable capabilities, a balanced structure and a complementary well-functioning system of
volunteer reserve is an ambitious yet real long-term goal", the Minister stressed. To achieve
all this, in the medium term we need to preserve the capabilities of the Hungarian Defence
Forces and to launch them on a sustainable course of development – he added.
Csaba Hende reminded that considering the economic realities, the government recently
modified the commitment made by the previous leadership, and committed itself in a decree
to maintaining the nominal value of the defence budget until 2016 so that the Hungarian
Defence Forces can fulfill their statutory and other international obligations. After that, the
government will increase the defence budget by 0.1 per cent of the GDP per year, so it will
reach 1.39 per cent of the GDP by 2022, the Minister added.
The strategy is part of the national security strategy, which the government endorsed this
spring, the Minister said. The military strategy is available on the homepage of the Ministry,
where anyone can read it and comment on it until November. After that, it will be submitted
to the Defence and Law Enforcement Committee of the Parliament and then the government
can endorse it by a decree.
Photo: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky
