Serbia and Hungary sign comprehensive military cooperation agreement

According to the Serbian channel RTS, Serbia and Hungary signed a comprehensive military cooperation agreement on April 1.

The agreement was finalized by Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gašić and his Hungarian counterpart, Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky.

Serbian President Alexandar Vučić stated that this agreement solidifies the strategic partnership in defense established in 2023 and moves the two nations closer to forming a full-fledged military alliance.

Vučić noted that while Hungary is a NATO member, unlike Serbia, “considering the number and importance of joint activities,” Hungary stands out as Serbia’s most significant military partner among all countries in the region.

“The key elements of these relations are military cooperation through conducting bilateral and multinational exercises, and military-technical cooperation for the supply of systems and weapons,” the Serbian leader added.

Furthermore, Vučić emphasized that the defense ministries of both countries have agreed to organize 79 joint events this year, a significant increase from the record 48 events held in 2023.

Reports indicate that Belgrade and Budapest plan to establish cooperation in military medicine, training, and industry, as well as conduct joint military exercises.

Additionally, Vučić highlighted the importance of Hungary for Serbian trade.

The Serbian leader pointed out that the trade volume between the two countries reached €3.3 billion last year. Since 2020, Serbia’s exports to Hungary have increased 5.6 times, while imports from Hungary have risen 2.3 times.

According to data from the analytics portal OEC, in 2023, Hungary ranked second among Serbia’s export destinations with $2.26 billion (a 6.9% share) and third for imports, totaling $1.83 billion (a 4.7% share).

For comparison, the Russia-Serbia trade volume was $3 billion in 2023 but declined to $2.4 billion in 2024.

The defense ministries of Serbia and Hungary had previously signed an agreement in June 2023 to strengthen military and military-technical cooperation in the Serbian town of Palić, near the Hungarian border.

The current Serbian-Hungarian defense agreements were established two weeks after a defense declaration was signed between the Defense Ministries of Croatia, Albania, and the partially recognized Kosovo – all neighbors of Serbia.

Signed in Tirana on March 18, that declaration includes provisions for personnel training, joint exercises, countering external threats, intelligence sharing, and “harmonizing the policies and positions of the participants with Euro-Atlantic multilateral structures.”

Meanwhile, Anastasiya Maleshevich, a researcher at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), told the Vedomosti newspaper that the signed memorandums do not constitute full military alliances but do encourage joint military exercises.

The expert suggested that Serbia’s agreement with Hungary serves as a response to the agreements perceived as hostile between Croatia, Albania, and the unrecognized Kosovo, which is prohibited from having its own army.

Maleshevich explained, “For Serbia, military rapprochement with Hungary, a NATO country, can serve as a symbolic retreat from the doctrine of neutrality for now and is a necessary step, but it also aims to hinder the development of regional military alliances directed against Belgrade.”

Yuliya Semke, chief expert at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies of the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Russia, observed that Croats and Albanians traditionally favor relations with Kosovo over Serbia, whereas Hungary has been steadily increasing its cooperation with Belgrade.

The expert described the agreement with Budapest as a responsive measure, stating, “The tripartite memorandum is clearly anti-Serbian and extremely painful for Serbia; just like any agreement foreign countries make with Kosovo. For Belgrade, this is unacceptable, as they consider this territory their own.”

Semke noted that actions by NATO members Croatia and Hungary, engaging in agreements with potential rivals in the Balkans, do not perfectly align with the NATO framework.

She added that Budapest’s foreign policy often diverges from the general European consensus, recalling that Hungary has long acted as the primary mediator in Serbia’s EU integration process.

Semke concluded that such agreements indicate a fragmentation, or “regionalization,” beginning to emerge in the security policies of individual European nations, leading to the formation of “interest groups.”

“This does not mean a split within NATO,” she stated, “but it prepares the ground in Europe for interstate agreements outside this military alliance, between some members of the alliance and non-member countries.”