NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has confirmed that any military operation outside the organisation’s territory can only be performed on a voluntary basis, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at a joint press conference held after talks with Stoltenberg in Budapest on Wednesday, adding that “Hungary has received all the necessary guarantees” from NATO.
Orbán said he had made it clear during talks that Hungary would not block NATO decisions “which could differ from the rational position based on our assessment of the situation but which other members share and support.”
The prime minister said that in Hungary’s recent European parliamentary election voters “have given a mandate that Hungary should not participate in any military action outside NATO territory”.
Orbán wrote on Facebook: “We have reached an agreement with the NATO Secretary General. We do not have to participate in military action outside Hungary. We will not send men, weapons or money to war!”
Stoltenberg: NATO accepts Hungary’s non-participation in operations to support Ukraine
NATO accepts Hungary’s position under which the country does not wish to participate in military or financial efforts towards supporting Ukraine, while Hungary would not block such NATO efforts, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after talks with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Budapest on Wednesday.
At a press conference held jointly with Orbán, Stoltenberg said he was expecting an agreement at NATO’s July summit in Washington, DC, under which the organisation could take a leading role in coordinating and promoting security support and training for Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said he hoped NATO would take a long-term financial commitment to provide military support to Ukraine, adding that it would ensure NATO’s predictability and reliability for Ukraine. He referred to Orbán stating that Hungary would not participate in those NATO efforts, adding that “I accept this position”.
Stoltenberg welcomed that he and Orbán had made an agreement ensuring ways for Hungary’s non-participation in NATO’s support for Ukraine. He confirmed that no Hungarian personnel would take part in those NATO activities and no Hungarian funds would be used for such purposes.
The NATO chief said Orbán had assured him that Hungary would continue to meet its NATO commitments in full. He said Hungary had always been a highly esteemed NATO ally in the past 25 years and highly appreciated the Hungarian prime minister stating that Hungary would remain “a loyal and committed” NATO ally.
Stoltenberg noted that Hungary was leading a multinational NATO unit and also hosted an important multidivision headquarters while it also supported stability in the Western Balkans and participated in KFOR’s peace-keeping operations in Kosovo. He added that since the start of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine Hungary had continued to accommodate Ukrainian refugees and helped in the rehabilitation of injured soldiers. All those efforts have contributed to common security, the NATO chief said.
Hungary is a loyal member of NATO
Hungary is a “loyal and committed member” of NATO, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after talks with Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, in Budapest on Wednesday.
Hungary currently has 1,300 troops participating in NATO missions, Orbán told a press conference held jointly with Stoltenberg. He added that Hungary was “one of the not too many countries” that performed “all their commitments” to NATO, its defence spending exceeding 2 percent of GDP and “also meeting the 20 percent capability development goal”.
Hungary also participates in airspace policing missions, too, in Slovakia, Slovenia, and on several occasions in the Baltic states, the PM added. Hungary also serves as “a crucial embassy linking NATO with central Asia and Africa,” he added.
Hungary will continue to meet its commitments in full in the future, the prime minister said.
Orbán’s press conference with Jens Stoltenberg:
Orbán praised Stoltenberg as a NATO leader highly appreciated in Hungary, adding that under his leadership cooperation between Hungary and NATO had strengthened.
Orbán also noted his government’s position on the war in Ukraine being different from that of most NATO members and said he acknowledged “the significant weight and number” of different positions.
He said he had made it clear during the talks that Hungary would not block NATO decisions “which could differ from the rational decisions based on our assessment of the situation but which other member states share and support”.
Hungary has received the required guarantees from Stoltenberg that “any military operation outside the organisation’s territory can only be performed on a voluntary basis,” Orbán said. The prime minister said in Hungary’s recent European parliamentary election voters had given “a mandate that Hungary should not participate in any military action outside the territory of NATO”.
Asked about guarantees ensuring that Hungary could not be forced to get involved in the war in future, Orbán said there were “two such guarantees: one is the Hungarian government and the other is the NATO secretary general”.
“We have received all [guarantees] that were necessary to resolve open issues … we had difficult but constructive talks concluded with a fair agreement,” Orbán said
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Orbán should thank USA with NATO for him to be PM of Hungary.
Without the United States, Hungary and the world would have never heard of Orbán, as Hungary would still be a colony of Russia.
But, he is ungrateful as he is the only one without team spirit with NATO.
100%. N.A.T.O. is a defensive alliance. The members’ obligations are activated if and only if a third party attacks a member directly. A few members’ military escapades in third countries do not count. Nor, might I add, would orchestrating an attack on a member.
Washington and Brussels are doing their damnedest to provoke Russia into attacking a N.A.T.O. member. I hope Russia doesn’t take the bait but, if it does, Hungary must have no part in whatever follows. I also hope the young American, European, Canadian, etc. men will refuse to as well. Have the globalist-socialist sleazeballs who are itching for a world war send their millions of illegal aliens they imported into N.A.T.O. countries.
@michaelsteiner – if supplying a sovereign nation with the means to defend itself against an aggressor is “provoking” – so be it.
Also – the Russians are very good at abusing this “you-cannot-strike-us-on-our-territory” situation. Allowing Ukraine to strike legitimate military targets across its border is eminently reasonable (and do consider Russian forces hit anything in sight – civilian infrastructure, hospitals, schools – anything is game…
According to previous NATO agreement no non-member country deserves support.
@norbert. Dont lose your time with such characters here. Michael and maria are posting the same bs again and again. They, just like fidesz agrees in the right to self defense of israel but no the one of Ukraine, and usa is providing weapons to both countries. The non sense from some Hungarians reached such a high level that is unbelievable
Dear Hose, NATO is a defense conglomerate. Supplying arms to Ukraine cannot be considered protecting the EU. Supplying weapons to Ukraine just weakens NATO.