Hungarian Ministry of Defence, Hungary has accepted a regulation issued by the European Union, a so-called Code of Conduct which creates more wide-ranging opportunities for the companies of the EU member states to compete in the European defence procurement market.
The announcement was made on 14th May at the ministerial meeting of the European Defence Agency (EDA) held in Brussels, where Hungary was represented by Defence Minister Dr Imre Szekeres.
Although providing equal opportunities for competition is a fundamental principle adopted by the European Union, so far the member states had had a chance (one they had often seized) to impose limitations on competitive tenders on the grounds of safeguarding their national security interests.
Experts say the new regulation is expected to accelerate the restructuring of the European defence industry (which has an annual turnover of 30 billion euros but is currently rather fragmented due to the just mentioned limitations), and to promote the establishment of bigger and even more competitive companies.
At a press conference held after the meeting of the defence ministers in the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council on 14th May, Defence Minister Dr Imre Szekeres also announced that Hungary would deploy her troops as a component of the EU battle group which is scheduled to be put on standby for a six-month period from as of 1st July. Hungary will provide 250 troops for the approx. 1500-strong unit which constitues the rapid reaction military force of the EU, the rest of which is to be manned by Italy and Slovenia.
Dr Imre Szekeres said he had concluded an agreement at the Brussels meeting with the defence ministers of these two countries on carrying forward with their cooperation. This means that next time when these three nations are supposed to man the EU battle groups they will set up a joint Hungarian–Italian–Slovenian unit again.
Establishing the system of battle groups is a very important contribution to developing the EU defence capabilities, the defence minister added. The bulk of the personnel of the Hungarian unit was selected from among the first battalion of the Debrecen brigade.
Answering a question, Dr Imre Szekeres said the Hungarian defence industry is made up of more than 300 firms, almost all of them being private companies employing 150 to 200 workers.
The defence minister also said that the stability of the Western Balkans had been an important issue on the agenda of the Brussels conference. He made a speech there, proposing that when the UN Security Council makes a resolution on the status of Kosovo, the European Union should give a real integration program for Serbia, similarly to NATO that had already taken some steps like that at the Riga Summit held in November last year by offering Belgrade the opportunity to join the Partnership for Peace program.
The minister gave grounds for his proposal saying that the stability of the Balkans – an area in the direct neighborhood of our country with a large Hungarian minority living there – is a priority among Hungary’s national interests.
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