Freedom is not possible without security, and so Hungary and Europe must beef up their defence budgets, Defence Minister Csaba Hende said at a reception at the US Embassy on the eve of Independence Day.

Noting United States efforts to help Hungary towards freedom, Hende said: “Hungary will not forget how much it owed the US when the freedom of the Hungarian state and the Hungarian people was crushed between two inhumane and godless powers”.

He also noted that Hungary’s Holy Crown, symbolising unity and freedom, had been sheltered in the US during the years of communism.

Hende said that the US had provided assistance worth a total 35 billion forints to the Hungarian military since 2010, enabling Hungary to make a greater contribution to the two countries’ joint mission.

Andre Goodfriend, charge d’affaires of the US embassy, spoke about the friendship between Hungary and his country, saying that it was based on shared values. He referred to Hungarians fighting in the War of Independence, and said that the two countries have been fighting together for those values for over 200 years. Those values, he said, mean that people can think and speak freely, practise their religion, and all are equal before the law.