Szijjarto: Hungary committed to increasing defence budget to 2 pc of GDP

Hungary will honor its pledge to increase its defence spending to 2 percent of GDP by no later than 2024, the foreign minister said after a NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday. Hungary is ready to discuss a recent proposal by the United States for NATO member states to meet the 2 percent target before the original deadline, Peter Szijjarto told Hungarian reporters at the end of the two-day summit. However, Hungary will certainly meet NATO's requirements for military development sooner, he added. But the recent suggestion by the US that its NATO allies should spend 4 percent of their GDP on defence "is not realistic at the moment for Hungary", Szijjarto said. "First we must reach the 2 percent target as originally agreed on. Only then is it worth considering the steps that should or can be taken to further increase the defence budget," he added.