Serbia and Hungary sign agreement on strengthening military cooperation

Serbia and Hungary have agreed to strengthen military cooperation, and the two sides have signed an agreement laying out a plan for the year 2025, Hungarian Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky announced in Belgrade on Tuesday. According to MTI, the Minister said that in today's "rapidly changing and uncertain international environment, it is of utmost importance that – as neighbouring countries –, Serbia and Hungary maintain continuous and high-level consultations in order to ensure stability in the region".

According to Szalay-Bobrovniczky, out of its non-EU and NATO member neighbours, Hungary has the most intensive bilateral defence and military relations with Serbia, and Hungary is also contributing to the modernisation of the Serbian armed forces. Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky pointed out that cooperation between the two ministries of defence and armed forces is getting stronger, and Serbia and Hungary are strategic partners, which has been extended to the field of defence and military cooperation since 2023.

According to Euronews, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that developing military cooperation is not the only area they are working on, and spoke about the two countries’ expanding trade and energy cooperation. Speaking of the bilateral defence and military relations, he pointed out that "Hungary is investing a lot of money into this area, it has an extraordinary army, which is being rapidly modernised, and we can see and learn a lot from them," he said. The Serbian president also mentioned that there will be joint Hungarian-Serbian helicopter exercises held and that they will make use of the training grounds in both Hungary and Serbia.

We reported last week that Vučić may have exaggerated his statements about Serbian-Hungarian military cooperation, as a government source told Telex that the Serbs are in fact trying to sell a bilateral cooperation plan as a military alliance, which is in reality far from it. Furthermore, it is clear from the text of the document that the cooperation must not violate Hungary's obligations as a member of the EU and NATO. As our article detailed, the purpose of the agreement also seems to be more political in nature.