Political Risk:
Moderate
Score:
52/100
Defence and Security Policy and Policy Transparency
Q1
42/100
Is there formal provision for effective and independent legislative scrutiny of defence policy?
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As stipulated by the Fundamental Law of Hungary [1] (Article 45/2), the National Assembly has the formal right to control the Hungarian Defence Forces…
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The National Assembly performed all functions described in 1A [1]. However, at present in Hungary the governing coalition has a constitutional majority in the…
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As the Hungarian government has a two-thirds majority, legislative measures and defence policy planning are not discussed in the National Assembly [1]. MPs do…
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Q2
15/100
Does the country have an identifiable and effective parliamentary defence and security committee (or similar such organisations) to exercise oversight?
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The committee has no formal rights to scrutinise areas such as budget, personnel management, and arms acquisitions. Even though the committee can request expert…
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Nearly all members of the committee have considerable expertise in defence matters, but their ability to influence decisions is minimal. For opposition MPs –…
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The most recent National Security Strategy (NSS) and National Military Strategy (NMS) were approved in 2012. Although the government has started crafting an updated…
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The committee does not regularly exercise any short-term oversight over defence policy. From the documents that are accessible on the committee’s website, policy matters…
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There has been no information on a single long-term investigation conducted or commissioned by the committee during the past five years. Opposition members initiated…
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There is not enough evidence to score this indicator. This is because the Minsitry of Defence (MoD) has not received any meaningful recommendations from…
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Q3
19/100
Is the country’s national defence policy or national security strategy debated and publicly available?
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The most recent National Security Strategy (NSS) of Hungary was adopted in 2012, a newer strategy has not been adopted. In 2012 there was…
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Only superficial discussions take place publicly [1, 2]. The gradually increasing governmental control over the media in Hungary plays a key role in this…
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The few consultations that have taken place recently were all government-funded, both the mechanisms themselves and the actors involved. Counting and processing results of…
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Except for the strategies themselves [1], most documents related to defence and security policy are not released to the public at all [2, 3].…
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Q4
17/100
Do defence and security institutions have a policy, or evidence, of openness towards civil society organisations (CSOs) when dealing with issues of corruption?
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No policy of openness exists [1, 2].
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Civil society organizations (CSOs) operate in the country, but critical or potentially critical CSOs and critical journalists face regular harassment by pro-governmental media [1].…
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Meetings only take place at CSOs and GONGOs funded by the government. Independent CSOs have little or no room to cooperate with the relevant…
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Q5
100/100
Has the country signed up to the following international anti-corruption instruments: UNCAC and the OECD Convention?
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The country has signed and ratified the UNCAC convention. Although Hungary is not a significant defence exporter, it is among those 43 states that…
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According to OECD reports and follow-up reports that are available (latest is from 2014), Hungary complies with its obligations in priority areas covered by…
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Q6
38/100
Is there evidence of regular, active public debate on issues of defence? If yes, does the government participate in this debate?
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Outside of the government, there is occasional public debate among academics, journalists, opinion-formers, and CSOs about defence issues. The debate addresses issues superficially, rather…
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Certain members of the government openly engage through public debates; however, it is largely lower-level officials and not through media briefings [1]. The Defence…
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Q7
63/100
Does the country have an openly stated and effectively implemented anti-corruption policy for the defence sector?
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There was an anti-corruption strategy covering all branches of government adopted in 2015, but it expired at the end of 2018 [1]. The expired…
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The white paper [1] addressed some institutional weaknesses but was unable to be translated into an action plan. The Integrity Report of the Integrity…
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Q8
50/100
Are there independent, well-resourced, and effective institutions within defence and security tasked with building integrity and countering corruption?
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In the Ministry of Defence (MoD) there is a Corruption-prevention Working Group (Korrupció-megelőzési munkacsoport) within the MoD Controlling and Integration Development Department (Hm Kontrolling…
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Neither the National Protective Service nor the Military National Security Service is independent; both are parts of the chain of command. As far as…
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Anecdotical evidence shows the staff is perfectly aware of the corruption risks and typical corruption schemes. However, although they can create an efficient strategy,…
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Q9
NS/100
Does the public trust the institutions of defence and security to tackle the issue of bribery and corruption in their establishments?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. There are no studies available on bribery in the defence and security institutions. However,…
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Q10
50/100
Are there regular assessments of the areas of greatest corruption risk for ministry and armed forces personnel, and are the findings used as inputs to the anti-corruption policy?
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There is an annual risk assessment procedure; however, the report only lists the approved strategies and tasks [1]. There is no information on risk…
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According to the integrity plan and law [1], integrity reports are submitted annually as an attachment of the annual budget report of the ministry…
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The Integrity Report of the Ministry of Defence [1] has no real findings that could develop any anti-corruption policy or practice. Since no problems…
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Defence Budgets
Q11
17/100
Does the country have a process for acquisition planning that involves clear oversight, and is it publicly available?
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There is an acquisition planning process internally in the ministry, while some elements of the Zrínyi 2026 plan (the mid-term development plan of the…
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The public has limited access to information, only has certain suggestions on the priorities based on the public elements of the Zrínyi 2026 plan…
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No sources had evidence that any external oversight existed [1, 2, 3, 4].
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Q12
88/100
Is the defence budget transparent, showing key items of expenditure? And it is provided to the legislature in a timely fashion?
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The defence budget contains comprehensive and disaggregated information across several functions, such as sponsorship for sports clubs, maintenance of military cemeteries, or financial support…
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The Annual Budget of Hungary is discussed and approved by the National Assembly and relevant commissions about six months ahead of the budgetary year.…
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Q13
75/100
Is there a legislative committee (or other appropriate body) responsible for defence budget scrutiny and analysis in an effective way?
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Legally the defence committee has the right to scrutinise of the defence budget. The committee has the power to scrutinise any aspect of budget…
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As described above in question 2, the government’s members of the committee are not executing their powers, while opposition members have no influence and…
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Q14
50/100
Is the approved defence budget made publicly available? In practice, can citizens, civil society, and the media obtain detailed information on the defence budget?
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The defence budget is published as a separate chapter of the annual budget at least six months before the budgetary year starts, as an…
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Most areas are published; however, because of the Law on Defence and due to a general climate of secrecy, important elements remain classified and…
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There is an extensive description on the webpage of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on how to request for public data including budget details,…
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Q15
75/100
Are sources of defence income other than from central government allocation (from equipment sales or property disposal, for example) published and scrutinised?
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The annual budget report and the budget plan both include the main numbers of planned income [1]. While the total income constitutes eight per…
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The Supreme Audit Institution is the independent body that can initiate special audits and regular audits at companies owned by the state [1]. The…
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There have been several occasions when investigative journalists tried to look deeper into the activities of the companies of the ministries, such as the…
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Q16
33/100
Is there an effective internal audit process for defence ministry expenditure (that is, for example, transparent, conducted by appropriately skilled individuals, and subject to parliamentary oversight)?
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There is an internal audit office [1]. However, all expenditures are supervised by another internal Ministry of Defence (MoD) Department, which was established at…
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The most important oversight bodies would be the State Audit Office (SAO) and the Defence Committee. The SAO is regularly accused of being partisan…
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The only external scrutiny of the internal audit is undertaken by government bodies such as the SAO, which is by law independent, but may…
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As we are not aware of any independent audit findings (at least audits that are publicly available) we cannot evaluate if the ministry would…
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Q17
44/100
Is there effective and transparent external auditing of military defence expenditure?
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The Hungarian State Audit Office (SAO) has the right to audit the Ministry and companies of the Ministry [1, 2]. The State Audit office…
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Technically State Audit office is independent from the executive branch with an idependent budget (although approved annually by state, so political impact is possible)…
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Technically the State Audit Office is independent of the executive branch with an independent budget (although it is approved annually by state, so the…
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There are only partial SAO reports regarding Hungarian defence (so these reports do not cover the whole Ministry of Defence (MoD) – only some…
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Nexus of Defence and National Assets
Q18
100/100
Is there evidence that the country’s defence institutions have controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation and, if so, are these interests publicly stated and subject to scrutiny?
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Hungary does not have these resources (the country has very limited natural resources that can be exploited), but the law prohibits any such business…
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Due to the reasons above no single case was revealed in the modern history of the country. The Law on the Status of the…
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No case has been found, as the country has almost no natural resources.
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This indicator has been marked Not Applicable, as no evidence of such interests has been found. Top officials and military leaders have to declare…
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This indicator has been marked Not Applicable, as no evidence of such interests has been found. Public institutions have the right to investigate the…
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Organised Crime
Q19
63/100
Is there evidence, for example through media investigations or prosecution reports, of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector? If no, is there evidence that the government is alert and prepared for this risk?
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The Organised Crime Division of the Hungarian National Police is responsible for combatting organised crime in Hungary. Since the scandals of the ‘oil mafia’…
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Military leaders never addressed this problem. The particular case mentioned [1] was not commented on by the ministry, but several pro-government presses attacked the…
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Q20
83/100
Is there policing to investigate corruption and organised crime within the defence services and is there evidence of the effectiveness of this policing?
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While technically policing of the military is assigned to the Military HDF vitéz Szurmay Sándor Budapest Garrison Brigade [1], it has a limited investigative…
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The Military HDF vitéz Szurmay Sándor Budapest Garrison Brigade has no independent budget [1], it has a limited investigative capacity for complicated corruption cases.…
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While investigations are seemingly unbiased, the office of military prosecutor is supervised by the Prosecutor General of Hungary, that is perceived as a corrupt…
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Control of Intelligence Services
Q21
75/100
Are the policies, administration, and budgets of the intelligence services subject to effective and independent oversight?
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Until 2018 the National Security Committee of the Parliament (i.e. the body responsible for the oversight of the intelligence services) functioned with considerable independence…
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The National Security Committee meets regularly, more often than every six months [1, 2], closer to monthly or bi-weekly. Members of the committee do…
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Q22
25/100
Are senior positions within the intelligence services filled on the basis of objective selection criteria, and are appointees subject to investigation of their suitability and prior conduct?
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The criteria for selection of senior positions are unclear for the public [1]. However, all appointed leaders have come from the wider national security…
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Impartiality has often been an issue when it comes to the links of the appointed leaders to the ruling party [1]. De jure there…
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As all leaders of intelligence services come from the same career track, there is no separate external vetting in the selection procedure, and particularly…
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Export Controls
Q23
67/100
Does the government have a well-scrutinised process for arms export decisions that aligns with Articles 7.1.iv, 11.5, and 15.6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)?
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Hungary signed the treaty in 2013 and ratified it in April 2014; the treaty formally entered into force for the state on 24 December…
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The Hungarian position was evaluated by Amnesty International [1]. According to the Arms Trade Treaty-Baseline Assessment Project, the country complies with the ruling of…
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Although the Hungarian arms export and defence industry is negligible, the processes for parliamentary oversight are non-existent. While arms export profits are 50 million…
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Lobbying in Defence
Hungary had a Law On Lobbying Activity (Act XLIX/2006) [1], it was countermanded in 2010 by the incoming Orbán government [2]. The official comments…
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Given that Hungary has no legislation regulating lobbying, this indicator is scored Not Applicable. Hungary had a Law On Lobbying Activity (Act XLIX/2006) [1],…
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Given that Hungary has no legislation regulating lobbying, this indicator is scored Not Applicable. Hungary had a Law On Lobbying Activity (Act XLIX/2006) [1],…
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Given that Hungary has no legislation regulating lobbying, this indicator is scored Not Applicable. Hungary had a Law On Lobbying Activity (Act XLIX/2006) [1],…
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