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<TITLE>Hungarian Minister of Defense Gyö Keleti ...Defense
Integration: A Hungarian View</TITLE>
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<CENTER><FONT SIZE="+4">Defense Integration: A Hungarian View</FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><FONT SIZE="+3">Hungarian Minister of Defense György Keleti</FONT></CENTER>
<CENTER><B><FONT SIZE="+1">ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND MILITARY TRANSITION
PROBLEMS</FONT></B></CENTER>
<P>Hungary, like the other Central and East European countries, is facing a
number of complicated transitional issues. One of these is the reform of
the armed forces, which must be handled in such a way that it remains in
harmony with the transition of the political and economic systems. Our
West European friends can easily understand our situation since they faced
a similar transition after the Second World War, when the needs for
economic growth, political stability, and security all appeared at the
same time. But Hungary does not have the Marshall Plan at its disposal.
Our task is very difficult because we not only have to repair the
devastation of war but we have to take our society and economy off a
basically bad course and set them on the path to organic development. </P>
<P>Hungary and most other states in the region know that their own internal
resources are not sufficient to solve the problems that are emerging
during this difficult transitional period. Recognizing this fact, we have
made numerous efforts to actively participate in international political,
economic, security, and defense cooperative endeavors and plan to continue
this participation in the future. </P>
<CENTER><B><FONT SIZE="+1">REFORM OF THE ARMED FORCES</FONT></B></CENTER>
<P>Even before the change in regime, the political forces in Hungary saw
the possibilities of a future political transition, and in a short time
established a stable parliamentary system. Reform of Hungary's centrally
controlled economy into a market economy also was conceptualized early on.
But the development of new economic processes has been slower and more
complicated. So, too, has been the reform of the armed forces, mainly
because of the different views on the task and because of how the armed
forces were organized. And while dialogue between East and West has taken
place in the areas of politics and the economy for some time, mistrust
regarding the military world made dialogue concerning that area impossible
until after the change in regime. </P>
<P>However, the reform of the armed forces is now under way. One of the
major motivating forces of this reform has been the shortage of economic
resources, which made it necessary to significantly reduce the effective
force. But, despite this beginning, Hungary still does not have a clear
long term plan for the structural reformation and reorganization of our
defense organization. </P>
<P>In the former socialist countries, democratic civilian control of the
armed forces was not part of the Cold War political agenda; democratic
principles do not have strong roots in our region. Instead, the armed
forces were often directly subordinated to dictators or to the aggressive
political forces that maintained a dictatorial system. This is why trying
to establish and enforce democratic civilian control as part of the reform
of our military force has proved to be more complicated than we expected.
</P>
<P>But NATO and the Partnership for Peace (PFP) are lending their help and
support to accomplish this task. PFP in particular is paying great
attention to our reform questions and is providing useful advice to us as
well as to other countries that are coping with this difficult issue. </P>
<P>Currently, the Hungarian Constitution and relevant laws guarantee that
the Hungarian armed forces can be employed only by the decision of the
relevant political bodies that are responsible to the people. Parliament
must approve costs of defense, as well as the ability of the country to
bear the economic burden. The issue of defense is now more in the public
eye in Hungary than it ever was during the Cold War. </P>
<CENTER><B><FONT SIZE="+1">THE NEED TO TRAIN CIVILIAN MILITARY EXPERTS</FONT></B></CENTER>
<P>Despite the positive changes, many steps must still be taken in order to
further develop democratic civilian military relations. One of our most
urgent tasks is to train and employ civilian defense experts of which we
currently have very few who will be able to assist the work of the
Parliamentary Defense Committee as well as take on positions at the
Ministry of Defense and in the Hungarian defense forces where they will be
able to enforce a wider political view. We recognize that in the past
military aspects have played an overly strong role in our ideas relating
to security. We must have a better understanding of the complex nature of
security in the future, and deduce from that understanding a long term
plan for the kind of tasks we want to give to the armed forces and in what
order we want those tasks to be executed. </P>
<P>To educate and train civilian defense experts, the Defense University
will shortly begin accepting students. The Manfred Wörner Foundation,
which was recently opened, also pays special attention to the education of
civilian experts. The foundation's first program, in which 25 students
received training in the areas of military force tasks in accordance with
civilian control, just ended successfully. </P>
<CENTER><B><FONT SIZE="+1">EMPHASIZING COMMUNICATION</FONT></B></CENTER>
<P>In Hungary we believe it is important to keep the public informed
regarding civilian military relations. But providing this information
through the media is only one way to communicate. We also need to maintain
continuous dialogue between the staff and the command of the armed forces
and between the armed forces and the population. We must put an end to
soldiers being closed into ghettos, something that evolved because of the
mistrust and secretiveness of the former system. The army must once again
become an organic part of society and must make society understand that
the army is an important guarantee of its security. </P>
<CENTER><B><FONT SIZE="+1">THE GOAL OF JOINING NATO</FONT></B></CENTER>
<P>I believe that the effort Hungary is making to reform its defense
organization is in harmony with the values of the Euro Atlantic defense
cooperative we wish to join in the near future. But it is not our
intention to join NATO as a source of defense against a direct military
threat to our country. Rather, we wish to join because of our general
philosophy of integration, which considers the enlarging of NATO and the
European Union as inseparable elements of the same process. We believe
that enlarging NATO will promote enlarging the European Union, which will
bring considerable security to our country before its complete
integration. However, Hungary is ready and able now to take on its share
of new tasks in addition to the necessary defense functions of the
Alliance, to which we believe we can offer a great deal. Therefore we
welcome with great enthusiasm the decisions made in Berlin and Brussels on
the practical development of the Combined Joint Task Force concept because
it will help to integrate new members into the political and military
structures of the Alliance. </P>
<P>Hungary will not only be a consumer of security efforts when it becomes
a member of NATO but it will also contribute to making the Alliance
stronger. As a member of NATO, Hungary will push to admit other countries
that did not gain membership in the first wave but do meet the
requirements. These additions to NATO will further strengthen the
Alliance's contributions to security and stability throughout the
continent, including that of Russia and other countries that temporarily
or permanently do not join. </P>
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