In the context of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s visit to Budapest in June, we provide a brief overview of how Hungary is meeting NATO’s defence spending expectations and what military missions it is participating in, whether led by NATO, the European Union or the United Nations. In a previous article, we reviewed Hungary’s role in UN missions, and in this article we show that while its position on the war in Ukraine differs from that of other NATO members, Hungary is a reliable, constructive and responsible member of the alliance, as well as in non-NATO missions.
On 12 June, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg visited Budapest to meet Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to discuss the war in Ukraine and Hungary’s relations with NATO. At the meeting, Hungary received assurances from the Secretary General that participation in any military action outside NATO territory, including a possible NATO operation in Ukraine, would be voluntary; that is, Hungary would not be obliged to participate. It was also agreed that Hungary would not make any financial commitment to support Ukraine militarily. Viktor Orbán said that Hungary acknowledges that its position on the Russia-Ukraine war differs from the majority position within the organisation and does not wish to block decisions taken by other member states with which it disagrees.
Hungary’s constructive attitude shows that it is a reliable, cooperative and responsible member of NATO. This is also confirmed by the fact that Hungary is one of the small number of NATO member states that meet the defence spending targets expected by the alliance. In relation to these objectives, it is worth recalling that, following the global financial crisis of 2008, NATO member states reallocated resources for defence spending to economic recovery and crisis management. This process continued until 2014, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began and defence funding became a top priority. At the summit in Wales that year, member states decided to commit themselves even more to the guideline requiring spending 2% of GDP on defence in the light of Russian aggression.
In Hungary’s case, defence spending as a share of GDP has been rising steadily since 2015, when the Zrínyi 2026 armed forces development programme began, and last year’s figure of 2.43% was in line with the NATO directive (10 countries besides us met the directive in 2023). At the Wales meeting, member states also introduced a new requirement that at least one fifth of defence spending should be spent on military equipment by 2024. This covers not only the modernisation, upgrading and replacement of equipment but also the funding of related research and development. Hungary has been an outstanding performer in this area as well, having consistently met this condition over the past five years; moreover, we spent almost two and a half times the requirement on the modernisation of equipment in 2022 and 2023. Last year, all of the then 30 NATO member states met the criteria for upgrading their equipment, and it is predicted that two thirds of them will do so this year.
The figure can be referenced here: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/18752166/
The figure can be referenced here: https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/18752179/
It is also worth taking note of the military missions in which Hungary is or has been involved, both within and outside NATO. There are currently 1,300 Hungarian soldiers participating in NATO operations. Of these, the Baltic mission has been of particular importance since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The alliance has been protecting the airspace of the Baltic countries since 2004, in rotating four-month shifts. So far, Hungary has served in the operation in 2015, 2019 and, as the lead nation, 2022, and the Hungarian Defence Forces have declared their wish to participate in the mission for a fourth time in 2025. In addition, we have been performing air policing tasks as part of NATO in Slovenia and Slovakia since 2014 and 2023 respectively.
Hungary has been part of the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, KFOR, since 1999. From autumn 2015, autumn 2017 and autumn 2022, for one year, a Hungarian senior officer held the position of deputy commander of the operation, and in 2017 Hungary took over the KFOR Tactical Reserve Battalion, which significantly increased our involvement in the mission. In addition, from autumn 2021, a Hungarian major general was KFOR commander for one year.
In 2003, Hungary joined NATO’s operation in Afghanistan, started in 2001, and was part of the mission until its end in 2021. We participated in the operation with the largest number of troops, more than 600, in 2013.
Hungary participated in NATO’s Training Mission in Iraq between 2004 and 2011, and the Hungarian Defence Forces Iraqi Training and Assurance Contingent has been serving in the Kurdish region of Iraq since 2015. Hungary joined the Global Coalition To Defeat ISIS in 2015.
The figure can be referenced here: https://infogram.com/nato-missions-1h984wvjgdroz2p?live
As far as the operations launched by the European Union are concerned, the participation of the Hungarian Defence Forces in peacekeeping operations in the Balkans is noteworthy. In 2004, the EU launched the EUFOR ALTHEA peacekeeping operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Hungary was the chief of staff between 2010 and 2023, and from January this year, a Hungarian commander will lead the mission for one year.
Hungary participated in EUTM Mali (EU Training Mission in Mali) between 2013 and its end in May this year. Since 2009, we have been participating in EUMM Georgia (European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia) and since 2015, we have been deployed to the EUNAVFOR MED IRINI (EU Naval Force Mediterranean Operation IRINI) operation headquarters in Rome, which was primarily launched to enforce the UN arms embargo against Libya.
Hungary also participates in UN missions: the Hungarian Defence Forces have been participating in UNFICYP (UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus) since 1995, in MINURSO (UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara) since 1999, and in UNIFIL (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) since 2006.
The sources for this article can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
