The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, has said that the inclusion of these two countries to Hungary’s National Card raises serious concerns, representing a potential threat to the security of the entire Schengen Zone, EU Helpers reports.
The European Commissioner questioned the logic of treating Russia and Belarus the same way as six candidates to join the European Union, stressing that economic gains from bringing in guest workers from these two countries appeared limited and disproportionate in comparison to the internal risks, mentioning recent cases of sabotage, cyber-attacks, and espionage.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led authorities in the EU to suspend the visa facilitation agreement with Russia in 2022. According to Johansson, the measure led to an 88 per cent decline in the number of visas issued to Russian nationals. She said that additional initiatives might be needed in the following months.
Hungary Didn’t Respond in Time to EU Concerns Related to Facilitation of Entry Rules for Russians & Belarusians
Hungary’s National Card permits foreigners from several countries to acquire residency in this country without being required to have high qualifications.
At first, it was dedicated only to nationals of Ukraine and Serbia, but recently, the list of countries has been expanded to include Russians and Belarusians as well. The decision sparked controversies among the bloc.
Soon after the inclusion of these two countries in Hungary’s National Card, the European Commission addressed a letter to Hungary requesting further clarifications related to the issue.
The letter came following concerns expressed by several EU countries related to potential security threats that would be brought to the bloc by Hungary’s decision to facilitate the entry rules for nationals of these two countries.
However, Hungary didn’t respond in time to these concerns.
Hungary Dismisses Concerns Related to Its National Card
Recently, Hungarian state secretary for government communications, Zoltán Kovács, said that applicants for the country’s National Card are subject to the same migration and security screening as applicants for any other residence permit.
Dismissing concerns related to this card, the Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás, said that currently, there are 6,000 nationals of Russia working in Hungary and 300,000 in Germany.
Gulyás said that the expansion of the program does not put the EU’s security at risk.
