Euro-Atlantic Summer School held for the XIXth time at NUPS

 

 

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The Euro-Atlantic Summer School was held at the National University of Public Service for the XIXth time. The event that concluded on the 27th of July had its last day – true to past traditions – focused on the current challenges faced by the Hungarian Defence Forces. As a part of this (Ret.) General Prof. Dr. Zoltán Szenes, professor at the Faculty of International and European Studies, examined Hungary’s interests in NATO, and highlighted the country’s results and performance in the context of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s recent summit in Brussels. As part of the final day’s program, General Szenes was followed by Colonel Vilmos Kovács, talking about the 170 year development of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and finally Colonel Tamás Réti concluded the day with presenting the aim objectives of the Zrínyi 2026 defense and armed forces development scheme.

During the course of the one-week-long summer school, the participants could listen to 20 lectures and roundtable discussions, but the program was also spiced up by various sport competitions, defence-policy competitions, creative challenges and the usual “Fighter’s Film Club” all made this event more colourful. Next to the topic of the Hungarian Defence Forces, the themes discussed also included the role of the big powers in today’s changing environment, Transatlantic relations, the challenges NATO faces, the strategic vision of Europe, the threats of the cyberspace, as well as political narratives and peculiarity of information intrusion in Europe. Friday, the last day of the program finished with the ceremonial lunch, and the certificate awarding ceremony of this event, accredited by the Ministry of Human Capacities of Hungary.

The event was financed with the support of the Public Service Development Establishing Good Governance Project (PADOP-2.1.2-CCHOP-15-2016-00001) under the framework of the “Strategic Research Aiding Governmental Decision Making in the Main Fields of Hungarian Foreign and Defence Policy” by NUPS’ Centre for Strategic and Defence Studies. The event was also organized in cooperation with the Cultural and Recreational Directorate of the Budapest Garrison Brigade "Vitéz Sándor Szurmay".