Hungary beefs up its defence capability
February 20th, 2019A pro-government analyst thinks that Europe is unlikely to set up its own independent defence force any time soon, which make it reasonable for Hungary to upgrade its own army.
On Mandiner, Gergely Varga from the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade think tank welcomes the government’s efforts to improve Hungary’s military capability. The pro-government analyst suggests that as the US is becoming more isolationist, the EU needs to increasingly rely on its own military to strengthen security and stability. Thus, the creation of a strong European army would be reasonable for the continent, Varga contends. He, however, thinks that the French-German efforts to create a strong and independent EU defence force would rewrite the balance of power within Europe. In order to set up a strong European army, Germany would need to improve its military capability significantly, which is unlikely to be welcomed by its neighbours, Varga speculates. In light of this, Varga suspects that the EU could strengthen its own army within NATO, to ensure that the involvement of the US would counterbalance and moderate shifts in the balance of power in Europe. As a strong and fully independent European defence force is unlikely to be created in the near future, Varga thinks that the Hungarian government is justified in boosting its own defence forces.