Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the presence of US President Donald Trump at the summit of NATO leaders "changed everything" from the previous years' summits, shifting the focus from supporting Ukraine to strengthening the alliance’s defense capabilities.
Speaking at a press conference after the summit in The Hague, Minister Szijjártó said that if he had to summarise the difference between this year’s summit and the ones in the last three years in just two words, he would say "Donald Trump".
Minister Szijjártó said Trump's return to office "changed everything", and now everyone was "free to use words like peace, ceasefire and peace talks without fear of immediate public shaming".
"With Donald Trump, peace efforts have also made a comeback," Minister Szijjártó said. "Today’s summit finally had NATO and the strengthening of the transatlantic community’s own defense capabilities on the agenda rather than unrealistic support to be given to Ukraine and its NATO membership."
He noted that the closing statement from Wednesday’s summit is "unusually short" at just eight pages long," yet it says more and is better than the previous one".
Minister Szijjártó said the statement reaffirms member states' commitment to Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty as well as to Article 3 on national resilience obligations.
Hungary, he said, was a frontrunner when it came to the development of defense capabilities, as it accounts for 45 percent of the country's military budget.
Minister Szijjártó welcomed that NATO did not exacerbate tensions with Russia, as this year's statement "doesn’t contain any lengthy details when it comes to Moscow".
He said it was important that NATO has identified the growing threat of terrorism as a serious challenge which had been made more significant by the tensions in the Middle East, as it increased the risk of attacks in Europe.
Member states also agreed to raise their defencs spending to 5 percent of GDP, investing 3.5 percent in core defense and 1.5 percent in building critical infrastructure and networks, maintaining civil preparedness, as well as developments and innovation, Minister Szijjártó said.
The allies have also agreed to submit annual national plans detailing how they will increase their defense capabilities, he said, adding that there was no set amount of progress member states were required to make each year. "We will review the situation in 2029 and determine how we are doing in light of the security situation at the time," he added.
Member states also agreed that it was their sovereign right to support Ukraine, he said, adding that this was a welcome outcome given that the Hungarian government did not want NATO "to cross certain red lines and end up in a direct confrontation with Russia".
The allies also affirmed their commitment to strengthening their defense industries, and a decision was made on holding next year’s summit in Turkiye and the following one in Albania, he added.
They also adopted resolutions on bolstering NATO’s southern strategy and recognising illegal immigration as a risk factor, he said. Also, they approved recommendations on the swift implementation of innovative technologies in order to reduce bureaucracy and administration, he added.
Minister Szijjártó also highlighted the renewal of the strategy on countering hybrid threats, adding that it had to be made clear that it was each member’s responsibility to take the necessary steps to implement the strategy as a national competence in order to bring collective defense to an acceptable level.