Hungary welcomes NATO's turn away from Ukraine, and toward Trump's defence vision

A new commitment by NATO members to increase their defence spending to at least 5 percent of GDP within ten years is a great opportunity for Hungary, the foreign minister said.

On the first day of a NATO summit in The Hague, Péter Szijjártó noted that it had been eight years ago that US President Donald Trump first attended a NATO meeting. “Since that time theoretically all members fulfilled the target to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defence, and Hungary has met the target three years ago,” he said, according to a ministry statement.

He said it was important that allied countries now made a commitment to spend 5 percent of GDP on defence in two categories within 10 years, also in line with Trump’s proposal.

In recent years, Hungary invested heavily in its defence industry, with demand in the sector expected to increase in the near future, he said. As a result, the commitment offers an opportunity for significant economic development for Hungary, he added.

He said NATO countries also had an obligation to spend 20 percent of defence spending on development and procurement, with Hungary being among the leaders in this area.

“Last year, Hungary’s 45 percent rate put it at fourth place in the alliance. And this also means that Hungary spends nearly half of defence spending on modernisation, new equipment and development in order to guarantee the security of the country, Hungarian people and families in an extremely uncertain international environment, an an era of crises,” he said.

Szijjártó said this was the first occasion since 2022 that the meeting of the military organisation was not focused on stronger support for Ukraine, but on solidifying collective defence. He welcomed that for the first time Ukraine’s NATO membership had been “openly and clearly” removed from the agenda, and that the Ukrainian president had not been invited to the official meeting, only an informal dinner.

“I am convinced that by removing Ukraine’s NATO membership from the agenda, the world has become a safer place … Because if Ukraine had become a NATO member, it would have resulted in direct confrontation between the North Atlantic Alliance and Russia, and such direct confrontation would obviously equal the outbreak of a third world war,” he added.

He praised the US president’s efforts for peace and expressed hope that NATO will finally close ranks in support of this policy.

He also said that Hungary was making efforts not only for its own security but also for its allies. He cited as an example the Hungarian air forces carrying out air policing activities in the airspace of Slovakia, Croatia and Slovenia, and a Hungarian contingent with four aircraft and eighty staff to return to the Baltic states for the fourth time from August.

Szijjártó: Expanding Hungary, US nuclear cooperation mutual interest

Hungary and the US have a mutual interest in bolstering cooperation in nuclear energy, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Facebook on Tuesday.

Szijjártó said that ahead of a NATO summit in The Hague, he talked by phone to US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau. They agreed that bilateral relations have dynamically expanded recently, he said.

“In the current situation teeming with challenges to energy security, cooperation in nuclear energy is especially important; expanding it is in our mutual interest, especially when it comes to new nuclear technologies,” Szijjártó said.

Szijjártó: US reinforces commitment to brokering peace

The US has reinforced its commitment to brokering peace in Ukraine, “something only [US President] Donald Trump can do, after the failed pro-war policies of the past three years,” Szijjártó said in The Hague late on Tuesday.

Speaking after a working dinner of the foreign ministers of the NATO-Ukraine council, Szijjártó said that his Ukrainian counterpart had requested further sanctions “as usual”, weapons and financial support, and many participants seemed committed to the “failed strategy of the past three-and-a-half years.”

That strategy had deepened the conflict, prolonged the war and made the hope of peace retreat while “it basically killed European economic competitiveness,” Szijjártó said, according to a ministry statement.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said his US counterpart had talked “sensibly and with a factual assessment of the situation”.

“Many have tried to undermine Trump’s peace efforts in many ways in the past months, but it has now been proven that … Washington sees dialogue and diplomacy as the most important tool in resolving the situation,” he said.

Hungary, a neighbouring country to war-torn Ukraine, has been pushing for a ceasefire and peace talks “even when we were brutally, politically attacked, criticised and lectured for that… With Trump’s advent, words such as ceasefire and peace talks received a place at the table, and we can talk about them without the threat of being criticised,” he said.

He thanked Trump for bringing the hope of peace closer and for re-launching direct talks with Russia.

Szijjártó also thanked Turkiye for its successful mediation between the warring parties at an earlier stage, and for providing a venue for direct Ukraine-Russia talks.

“My Turkish colleague was right in saying that wars and armed conflicts, including that in the Middle East, lead to the closure of trade routes, serious waves of migration, crisis in the energy market, and to terrorism escalating worldwide. We must prevent all that by pushing the conflicts towards peace, and that is only possible through diplomacy and dialogue,” Szijjártó said.

Responding to a question, Szijjártó welcomed that the summit’s closing document “does not further escalate the tension with Russia.” He said there had been no decision regarding Ukraine; “although some member states stood by Ukraine’s accession [to NATO], the US and other important member states have made their stance clear on the matter.”

“The phrase that Ukraine’s path to NATO is irreversible, which was included in the declaration of the Washington summit last year, is not in this year’s closing document. I think that speaks for itself. We welcome this as the right move. Ukraine’s NATO membership would be tantamount to a third world war…” Szijjártó said.

Szijjártó: Trump’s presence at NATO summit ‘changed everything’

The presence of US President Donald Trump at the summit of NATO leaders “changed everything” from the previous years’ summits, shifting the focus from supporting Ukraine to strengthening the alliance’s defence capabilities, Hungary’s foreign minister said in The Hague on Wednesday.

Speaking at a press conference after the summit, Szijjártó said that if he had to summarise the difference between this year’s summit and the ones in the last three years in just two words, he would say “Donald Trump”.

Szijjártó said Trump’s return to office “changed everything”, and now everyone was “free to use words like peace, ceasefire and peace talks without fear of immediate public shaming”.

“With Donald Trump, peace efforts have also made a comeback,” Szijjártó said. “Today’s summit finally had NATO and the strengthening of the transatlantic community’s own defence capabilities on the agenda rather than unrealistic support to be given to Ukraine and its NATO membership.”

He noted that the closing statement from Wednesday’s summit is “unusually short” at just eight pages long, “yet it says more and is better than the previous one”.

Szijjártó said the statement reaffirms member states’ commitment to Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty as well as to Article 3 on national resilience obligations. Hungary, he said, was a frontrunner when it came to the development of defence capabilities, as it accounts for 45 percent of the country’s military budget.

Szijjártó welcomed that NATO did not exacerbate tensions with Russia, as this year’s statement “doesn’t contain any lengthy details when it comes to Moscow”. He said it was important that NATO has identified the growing threat of terrorism as a serious challenge which had been made more significant by the tensions in the Middle East, as it increased the risk of attacks in Europe.

Member states also agreed to raise their defence spending to 5 percent of GDP, investing 3.5 percent in core defence and 1.5 percent in building critical infrastructure and networks, maintaining civil preparedness, as well as developments and innovation, Szijjártó said.

The allies have also agreed to submit annual national plans detailing how they will increase their defence capabilities, he said, adding that there was no set amount of progress member states were required to make each year. “We will review the situation in 2029 and determine how we are doing in light of the security situation at the time,” he added.

Member states also agreed that it was their sovereign right to support Ukraine, he said, adding that this was a welcome outcome given that the Hungarian government did not want NATO “to cross certain red lines and end up in a direct confrontation with Russia”.

The allies also affirmed their commitment to strengthening their defence industries, and a decision was made on holding next year’s summit in Turkiye and the following one in Albania, he added.

They also adopted resolutions on bolstering NATO’s southern strategy and recognising illegal immigration as a risk factor, he said. Also, they approved recommendations on the swift implementation of innovative technologies in order to reduce bureaucracy and administration, he added.

Szijjártó also highlighted the renewal of the strategy on countering hybrid threats, adding that it had to be made clear that it was each member’s responsibility to take the necessary steps to implement the strategy as a national competence in order to bring collective defence to an acceptable level.

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