Defence minister: New US administration confirms correctness of Hungarian security policy thinking

“The goals of the new government of the United States confirm the correctness of Hungarian security policy thinking, it became apparent at the 53rd Munich Security Conference (MSC)”, Minister of Defence István Simicskó highlighted on Sunday with regard to the meeting in the Bavarian capital in a telephone statement to Hungarian news agency MTI.

The lecture by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and the speech by Secretary of Defence James Mattis confirmed the fact that “we view the world correctly, are interpreting the dangers correctly and have an accurate idea of the required solutions”, the Minister of Defence said after taking part in the Conference.

“The U.S. and Hungary also have very similar views with regard to reinforcing NATO and the fight against radical Islamism”, Mr Simicskó pointed out, highlighting the fact that more effective action against the Islamic State terrorist organisation can be expected in the new future.

“This increases the risk of new waves of refugees, and accordingly Europe and NATO must take on a greater military role in crisis zones to ensure the safety of European citizens and to enable people in the affected regions to remain at home and maintain an existence on site through peacekeeping”, the Minister said in his telephone statement.

Mr Simicskó stressed that this is also something in which Hungarian and U.S. standpoints coincide, and therefore the Munich Security Conference represents a “positive experience” for the Hungarian Government.

With relation to the fact that in her speech at the conference on Saturday German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for the reinforcement of Europe’s defence capabilities, the Hungarian Defence Minister said, “this also confirms the correctness of Hungary’s security policies”.

“Hungary was the first to make a stand in favour of developing Europe’s joint defence capabilities and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was the first to state that Europe needs a joint army. Our European partners will probably never admit that Hungary was a frontrunner in this issue, but they have ‘delicately set out’ in the direction indicated by the administration in Budapest”, Mr Simicskó said.

Source: Kormany.hu/MTI