NATO conference in Budapest

The decisions made at NATO's Wales Summit this September are critical to Europe’s security - that was the conclusion drawn by participants at the at the conference entitled NATO 2014: The Alliance after the Wales Summit in Budapest.

As Minister of State for Public Administration István Dankó of the Hungarian Ministry of Defence said, “Europe’s immediate environment is suffering repeated crises, which must be handled to assure the security of the international community.”

He added that factors affecting Europe’s security have deteriorated significantly, and moreover in a period in which defence spending has fallen significantly as a result of the economic crisis, leading to a partial weakening of Europe’s defence capabilities.

In Mr. Dankó’s view, decisions that are critical from the perspective of Europe’s security were made at the Wales summit; it was declared at the highest possible level that security is indeed important and the member states undertook to increase their defence spending.

He also noted that Russia’s actions in Ukraine are in contravention of international law, and the country’s military activities have increased recently. Russia’s activities require increasing attention, primarily within NATO’s north-eastern region, and a determined and unified response must be taken against all challenges that endanger security, the Minister of State added.

(source: kormany.hu)