No. 6. (06/03/98) One month of Euro-Atlantic integration (January 1998)

2 February
• NATO provides solid security for Hungary, the lack of land communication is not a problem, the Hungarian military updating will have to be continuously implemented, said General, John Shalikashvili, former U.S. chief of the general staff.

3 February
• The Danish Parliament, as first of the NATO member states, with a vast majority, in 97:17 proportion has voted for the Minutes of the on extension of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization signed on 16 December 1997 in Brussels. László Kovács, Foreign Minister and György Keleti, Defense Minister have also greeted the resolution. The Canadian Government has also approved of the accession of the three candidate countries to the NATO.

4 February
• Upon the invitation of Lieutenant-General, Ferenc Végh, Hungarian chief of the general staff General Wesley K. Clark, the commander-in-chief of NATO European Allied Forces has arrived into our country for a one day visit. Clark has visited the manoeuvres of the motorized fusilier brigade in Tata and been received by Gyula Horn, Prime Minister and László Kovács, Foreign Minister. Wesley K. Clark has pointed out that they are looking forward to Hungary's accession to the NATO with great expectations, the Hungarian Army may be proud of their results achieved in restructuring.

5 February
• By 30 July the mandate of SFOR will have been terminated and after that the tasks of the international forces stationed in Bosnia will change.

6 February
• In view of László Kovács, Foreign Minister the National Assembly will have to approve of the accession to NATO when ratification has been performed in the 16 member states of the Alliance because that is when Hungary will be formally invited to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

9 February
• There are only more expensive and hazardous security policy alternatives to the extension of NATO open for the United Sates, that is how László Kovács, Foreign Minister's argument can be summed up by which, together with his Czech and Polish colleagues, they intend to convince the members of the U.S. Senate who are still hesitating with regard to the ratification of the extension of the NATO in Washington.
• Ukraine sold weapons for foreign countries in a value equal to more than one billion U.S. dollars and thus has become the twentieth largest arms exporter in the world.
• The U.S. has requested support from the three invited Central-European states, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland to assist the anti-Iraq coalition's possible actions. László Kovács during his talks in Washington has said that our country will be willing to support the military actions of the anti-Iraq alliance provided that the options of any peaceful settlement has been exhausted.
• The Hungarian, Czech and Polish foreign ministers have met the faction leaders of the Senate and the members of the Political Committee. Senator Trent Lott, head of the majority group of the Republican Upper House has said that the Senate will approve of the extension of the NATO by a majority voting at the end of March. Albright, Woman Foreign Secretary is against some senators' position that a three/five year interval should be set forth with regard to the continuation of any further extension.
• Out of the three states invited to become NATO members Poland has been the first to react favourably to Albright, Woman Foreign Secretary to provide support to the coalition should the military action against Iraq become unavoidable. The U.S. invitation, which expects contribution from Hungary is primarily in logistic, medical and chemical protection, has been formally presented to the Foreign Ministry.

11 February
• President Bill Clinton has submitted the heads of the U.S. Senate the Minutes of the extension of the NATO in the presence of the foreign ministers of the three countries invited to the organization. Through that the ratification process has officially commenced. Prior to the ceremony President Clinton has met the three new allied foreign ministers. László Kovács has expressed the gratitude of the Government for consequently supporting Hungary's NATO-membership. President Clinton has said that by the admission of the three new members the NATO will become stronger against both the old and new dangers.
• László Kovács, Foreign Minister, together with his Czech and Polish colleagues, has lobbied for the approval by the Senate for three days in Washington. László Kovács has considered the visit successful, the American votes for the extension coincide with Hungary's conceptions.
• The greatest success last year for Hungary was the invitation to the NATO which was the acknowledgment of the country's achievements in democratic restructuring, the establishment of the market economy, said György Keleti, Defense Minister at the assessment and task definition meeting of the Hungarian Army. In the next four years the share of the army of the GDP will increase 0.1 percent a year. The minister has ordered that an overall supervision is to be implemented. Technical development has been identified by the Defense Minister as this year's most significant task, especially the increase of the low level guarding capability of the air force.

13 February
• György Bánlaki, Ambassador in Washington has presented the Memorandum of the Hungarian Government on the accession to NATO to the advisor of the U.S. President. The document summarizes the government's position and attempts with regard to the extension of the NATO and Hungary's accession. After UK and Norway the United States is the third country whose government and legislation has received the document.

14 February
• Two Bosnian men, for whose arrest a warrant has been issued due to their war crimes, have voluntarily reported to the international stabilization forces.

17 February
• The National Assembly, with five votes against and seven abstentions, has approved that the international forces that would possibly act against Iraq use the Hungarian airspace and the designated internal airports, also that health corps of maximum fifty would participate in the international action aimed to enforce the UN resolutions. The invitation has been forwarded by the U.S. Government only to the three candidate countries. Warsaw is considering sending a contingent similar to the one used in the 1991 Bay War. In Prague negotiations are being held on a decision to be made on participation.
• Subsequent to the resolution made by the National Assembly the implementation of preparation has immediately commenced. Lieutenant-general Ferenc Végh, the commander of the Hungarian Army has said that the realization of the tasks related to provision of airspace suitable for the resolution (Pápa, Taszár, Kecskemét) for receiving U.S. aircraft and the setting up and training the medical team have commenced.
• The United States have appreciated very much that Hungary has taken a role in the coalition against Iraq that has violated the UN resolutions, said Peter Tufo, U.S. Ambassador. The Ambassador has definitely denied that the coalition invitation against Iraq has had anything to do with the NATO ratification by the Senate.

18 February
• Yevgeniy Primakov, Russian Foreign Minister has had negotiations in Budapest with László Kovács, Foreign Minister. During his negotiations he has repeated that Russia considers the extension of the NATO to the East in a negative way but he has also added that it has been not to promote a campaign against the NATO he has come to Budapest.

20 February
• The North Atlantic Council which consists of the NATO Ambassadors has informed the peace partners: subsequent to the termination of the mandate of the SFOR the international forces will stay in Bosnia with some thousands less people but without major staff reduction. The denomination SFOR will not be altered, the troops will be concentrated in problematic areas. Hungary has indicated that it is her intention to participate in the peace keeping operation.

21 February
• In ten years the direct cost of the accession to the NATO by Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland will be a total of one and a half billion U.S. dollars, stated a recent official estimate by the U.S. Department of Defense.

23 February
• Alain Richard, French Defense Minister during his one day visit has said that in view of France Hungary as a member of the NATO can maintain the significant role of the stabilizer in the Central and East European region. At the same time France counts on Hungary in the attempt the aim of which is to strengthen the European wing of NATO, the joint international role taking of the West-European countries by which it would be able to offset the extremely important ally influence by the U.S..

24 February
• It seems to be certain that the U.S. Senate will ratify the admittance of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland as members to the NATO at the end of the legislation debate.
• In view of István Gyarmati Hungary's membership in the NATO will not constitute the transfer of the right of decision making on the armed forces, the introduction of Hungarian soldiers into foreign territories will have to be authorized by the Hungarian National Assembly in the future as well. Also under the peace partnership it is enough to have a government resolution on the participation of a formation that does not exceed 120 persons.

25-26 February
• Since the signing of the Accession Minutes in December it has been the first time Javier Solana, NATO Secretary General has paid a visit to Hungary. During his visit he has been received by Gyula Horn, Prime Minister, Árpád Göncz, the President of the Republic and Dr. Zoltán Gál, the Speaker of the National Assembly. In the Congress Hall of the Parliament at the joint session of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees he has said he trusts that before mid April the U.S. Senate will ratify the admission of the members and the member states will approve of Hungary's accession before the end of this year. He has had negotiations with László Kovács, Foreign Minister and György Keleti, Defense Minister where he has pointed out that Hungary is the most stable country in the region. He has expressed his regard for the Hungarian government for providing assistance to the SFOR forces for the settlement of the South Slavic crisis. In his view, Hungary has to make progress in developing cooperation between member states, accession to the communication network and links to the joint air protection system.

16 February
In Brussels, at the NATO Headquarters the senior executives of the North-Atlantic Council and of the North-Atlantic General Meeting have had their regular annual talks. The meeting for the first time has been attended by Jenő Rácskay representing the Hungarian National Assembly, the head of the North Atlantic General Meeting delegation. The head of the Hungarian delegation in his comment has repeatedly fostered the importance of the accession of the Central and East European countries into the NATO.

16-17 February
The Economic Committee of the North Atlantic General Meeting visiting the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris including Pál Papp, the member of the North Atlantic General Meeting delegation. During the visit the participants have been informed with regard to relations between OECD and Russia and the operation of OECD.