History of Hungarian-NATO relations
We reckon that the official uptake of Hungarian-NATO relations took place on June 27, 1990, when then foreign minister Géza Jeszenszky made a personal visit to the Brussels’ headquarters, the first time for a government member to do so. Thereafter, mutual high-level visits - that is well before membership - became a regular occurrence. The hitherto high-level nature of meetings assumed a new dimension when Hungary, together with other former Warsaw Pact countries, became a founding member of the North-Atlantic Co-operation Council (NACC), which was set up in order to provide a forum for regular consultations with its former opponents on shaping relations and security policy.
In parallel with regular consultations, NATO organised more and more practical programmes with the participation of the new democracies, in whose activities Hungary also took an active part.
Practical co-operation was raised to a higher level following the Peace for Partnership programme (PfP) launched at the NATO summit in January 1994. Hungary was among the first to play a signal role in military co-operation programmes with the signing of the PfP framework document in February 1994. The new framework also paid consideration to the individual interests of partner countries. An important stage in the development of relations came in January 1995, when an independent Hungarian liaison office – with an ambassador as head of mission - was set up at the compound of the NATO headquarters.
A milestone in the history of Hungarian-NATO relations came when Hungary, in co-operation with NATO, contributed to the stabilisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the IFOR/SFOR operation launched in December 1995 and lasting until the end of 2004 Hungary extended host support for the NATO contingent and its continental partners serving in the operation, and took part in the IFOR/SFOR mission with its own contingent, too. We played a significant role in respect of our multifaceted participation, and, at the Madrid Summit in 1997, Hungary was invited to start accession negotiations. The further consequence of the conclusion of the IFOR/SFOR operation was that Hungary also participated in the work of NATO’s Sarajevo command.
The next key date was July 8, 1997, when the Alliance invited Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic to start negotiations on joining the organisation at the Madrid summit. This was successfully concluded with the ratification in member counties, while Hungary successfully competed the process of ratification and succeeded in obtaining a convincing result in the referendum on Hungary’s accession to NATO (in the vote 85% of participants voted for membership), consequently Hungary officially became a full member of NATO on March 12, 1999.
Just a few days after joining, an opportunity opened to secure its commitment to NATO when Hungary provided multifaceted support to NATO forces in response to the Kosovo crisis in the NATO air operation in Yugoslavia. Ever since the successful conclusion of the NATO air operation, Hungary has actively participated in the Association’s Kosovo KFOR mission and it intends to continue its participation while necessary. In 2008, 470 Hungarian soldiers serve in the KFOR mission.
Hungary, as a member of NATO, is committed to supporting the strengthening of transatlantic ties and NATO’s adaptation to new security conditions and challenges, as well as its further enlargement, which is a factor in boosting the security of Hungary, its direct region as well as the Euro-Atlantic area as a whole. In this area the results of the Prague summit are regarded as a milestone, in which it was again demonstrated that the North Atlantic Alliance is ready and capable of meeting the ever-present security challenges and is capable of adapting to changing circumstances.