Hungarian Conservative

As expected, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is continuing the peace mission he started in Kyiv last week at the NATO summit in Washington, DC. Meanwhile, the defence alliance is increasing its support for Ukraine, with Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calling the path to NATO membership for the war-torn country irreversible.

After ten years, NATO will have a new Secretary General: outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. As head of government, Rutte has often criticised Hungary, but he has promised to honour the agreement between Viktor Orbán and Jens Stoltenberg that Hungary will stay out of NATO’s mission in Ukraine.

Hungary has received assurances from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that it will not have to participate in military action outside its territory. Stoltenberg and Viktor Orbán held talks in Budapest on Wednesday, during which, in addition to discussing the war, Hungary’s significant contribution to the functioning of the defence alliance was also highlighted.

Despite the significant support Ukraine receives from its Western allies, the Russian military industry seems to be still superior in terms of quantities. According to reports, five Russian responses are received for every shot fired by Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine’s Western allies produce artillery ammunition not only more expensively but at a much slower rate than Russia. According to predictions, in 2024, Russia will be able to produce 4.5 million artillery shells, while the EU and the US together only about 1.3 million.

Hungary strongly opposes Dutch PM Mark Rutte’s candidacy. There are alternatives to Rutte, however; candidates that might not enjoy widespread support as of now but are less divisive. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, for one, recently announced his candidacy for the role. But Hungary’s endorsement of President Iohannis is not self-evident, considering that Klaus accused the Romanian Socialist Democratic Party and the Hungarian minority party UDMR of conspiring ‘to give Transylvania to Hungary’ during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fears of a potential second presidential term of Donald Trump have allegedly prompted NATO to devise a plan to assume the coordination of arms deliveries to Ukraine, replacing the United States.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has confirmed in several forums and personally to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that Hungary supports Sweden’s NATO accession. At the same time, the Hungarian ruling party also made it clear that the Swedish ratification of NATO may take place early in the regular parliamentary session, but this would first require a meeting between the two prime ministers in Budapest.

‘We are nobody’s orderly,’ Hungarian House Speaker László Kövér stated in an interview with Index, addressing the question of the Hungarian ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession.

At a press conference following her meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, President Katalin Novák Novák ruled out the possibility of any ties between Hungary and Russia ‘which could undermine ties with its allies and commitments within NATO as well as in the European Union’.

Katalin Novák highlighted the inexplicable, brutal, and tragic attacks on civilians in Ukraine. She recalled that she had expressed her personal sympathy to the Ukrainian people, as the majority of her foreign counterparts, during her previous visit to Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a surprise visit to Kyiv, Ukraine to meet with President Zelenskyy, where he expressed his strong support for Ukraine’s accession to the military alliance. Viktor Orbán, who has been a vocal proponent of peace negotiations and is fully aware that such remarks are seen as a provocative move by Russia, took to Twitter to voice his strong dissent.

‘But anyways, a changing of the guard is coming. And that means that Ursula von der Leyen—by the way, nominated, if not created, by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel—, just like Jens Stoltenberg, has to look for a new job. Pony riding is obviously no option for her any more. She is a political animal, a political wolf maybe. Too bad that there are technical and political obstacles.’

With Finland’s accession, NATO will become stronger, and as Finland becomes a safer place through membership, Sweden’s security environment will also improve and bring the country closer to full integration.

The NATO–Ukraine Foreign Ministers’ meeting will take place on 4–5 April in Brussels and it will not be a one-time event, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. He also added that Hungary’s concerns will be discussed.