Hungary to meet NATO deadline a year ahead of schedule

Hungary will meet its commitment to NATO this year, one year before the deadline, of boosting its defence spending to two percent of GDP, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Wednesday in Brussels after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

Hungary’s spending will even exceed 2 percent of its GDP, according to a ministry statement quoting Szijjarto as saying at a press conference.

Hungary is among nine NATO members meeting the 2 percent requirement this year, he added, dismissing “false accusations and doubts” regarding Hungary’s “commitment, reliability, and loyalty” to the alliance.

Also, since 2019 Hungary has spent at least 20 percent of its defence budget on developments, he said, adding that 48 percent of spending last year was on capacity-building, putting Hungary in first place among the alliance’s 31 member states in this regard. Much of the spending is linked to big domestic defence industry investments, the minister said.

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