2024-06-29 20:57 来源：本站编辑
3 min read
After the European Union (EU), Hungary is starting to seriously irritate its partners within the Atlantic Alliance. At a time when the allies are fine-tuning the aid package that NATO hopes to provide Kyiv at the military organization's summit in Washington from July 9 to 11, the organization's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has taken a decision in Hungary's favor that may not go unchallenged in the long run.
As the US and Germany are still unwilling to invite Ukraine to officially join the alliance, Stoltenberg has proposed that, in the meantime, part of the tasks of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) be integrated into NATO. Created in April 2022, this American-led structure prepares, coordinates and delivers to Ukraine all the weapons supplied to the war-torn country by the West.
To integrate these services into NATO, all allies must support the measure. However, only one is resisting this proposal: Viktor Orban's Hungary, which has been hostile to any military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. In May, the strongman of Budapest even accused the Atlantic Alliance of dragging its members into a "global conflagration."
Read more Subscribers o nly Allies seek to overcome divisions over sensitive issue of Ukraine's accession to NATOTo win his support, Stoltenberg negotiated a waiver with him. On Wednesday, June 13, after a meeting with Orban, he was able to announce an "agreement on the modalities for Hungary's nonparticipation in NATO's support for Ukraine." "At the same time," Stoltenberg said, "the Prime Minister assured me that Hungary will not oppose these efforts, allowing other allies to move forward."
Hungary "cannot change the decisions of the other 31 member states," said the head of the Hungarian government, but the country "will not contribute financially and will not send any men to this war." In concrete terms, Hungary will not finance this coordination program, which is currently based in Germany, and no Hungarian NATO personnel will be assigned to it.
For some diplomats, who want to ensure the success of the forthcoming Washington summit, Stoltenberg has found the ideal modus operandi for breaking the deadlock with Hungary. As Julianne Smith, the US ambassador to NATO, said: "Not all Alliance members always participate in all NATO activities or missions."
For other diplomats, however, the introduction of a derogation and the acceptance of an ally dissociating itself from political support for Ukraine raise questions. Not only "did we learn of this derogation from the press," said one diplomat, but "it also authorizes Hungary to ask for more and more." Indeed, within the EU, Budapest is accustomed to doing this. Hungary continues to block a number of Ukraine-related issues, including the financing of military aid to Kyiv and the opening of EU accession negotiations. At the beginning of 2024, Hungary was also the last country to approve Sweden's entry into NATO.
