As reported by the Budapest Business Journal, the Hungarian Ministry of Defense will get a total budget of HUF (Hungarian Forint) 616 billion (= EUR 1.865 billion) in 2020, Parliamentary State Secretary Szilárd Németh announced at a press conference held in the Ministry of Defense, kormany.hu reports.

The 2020 defense budget is a record-sized allocation, HUF 103 bln more than the 2019 budget, amounting to HUF 616 bln in total (Picture source: DailyNewsHungary)

Parliamentary State Secretary Szilárd Németh pointed out that defense will be one of the government’s most important tasks also next year, and therefore this year, too, they have created legislation that aims at making the Hungarian Defense Forces one of the region’s most modern and effective armies. He said the financial resources necessary for the fulfillment of this task are now available: the 2020 defense budget is a record-sized allocation, HUF 103 bln more than the 2019 budget, amounting to HUF 616 bln in total. HUF 216 bln from this sum, meaning more than 30% of the allocation, will have to be used for the development of the Hungarian Defense Forces, the State Secretary informed the press.

At the press conference, Németh denied rumors about the reinstatement of conscription: "There will be no conscription in Hungary. The personnel of the Hungarian Defense Forces will remain based on the career soldier model and the system of voluntary reservists also in the future. As part of the Zrínyi program, by 2026 we are expecting to have a staff of 30,000 career soldiers and a reservist defense staff of 20,000," he said.