European Commission sends second letter to Hungarian government about visa relaxation applicable to Russians too

The European Commission sent another letter to the Hungarian government on Wednesday concerning the easing of visa restrictions for Russians and Belorusians, because there were two questions that were not clarified in the reply to the first letter, Ylva Johansson said.

The EU Home Affairs Commissioner spoke about this in the European Parliament's Justice Committee. As of July, the new legislation allows Hungarian authorities to issue the National Cards which make taking a job in Hungary easier to Russian and Belarusian citizens, among others.

The commissioner listed various recent EU measures, such as the suspension of the visa facilitation programme with Russia and Belarus and stricter checks on such documents. The number of visas issued to nationals of the two countries has fallen by 90 percent.

“Taking new initiatives to welcome citizens of two hostile countries, Russia and Belarus, into the EU at a time like this raises serious questions, and is a potential threat to our security.”

The benefits of the move seem insignificant compared to the cost and the security risk to the entire Schengen area which has no internal border controls, Johansson said. She cited various sabotage and reconnaissance operations in the EU as an example, such as the appearance of reconnaissance drones at a military base in Germany (she did not include the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline), which she said should make us even more vigilant than before. She said it was no time to go softer on security, because that would undermine member states' trust towards each other within the Schengen area. At the same time, she acknowledged that the expansion also makes the programme applicable to citizens of six EU candidate countries. For the moment, they are still analyzing the Hungarian interior minister's response, but she says there are two issues it does not clarify.

“First of all: why?”

Why was this necessary? She understands that Hungary, like almost all EU member states, has a shortage of labour, but why couldn't this have been solved in other ways, with workers from other countries? Her other concern is that, despite what she sees as a greater security risk, nationals from the two countries are only screened in the same way as others in the programme. She said that today she had sent another letter to the Hungarian authorities to clarify the two issues and expects a response by 11 September. Answering MEPs questions, she also said:

at this stage she could not confirm that the programme was in breach of EU law, just that it "raises questions".

Centre-right MEP Jeroen Lenaers commented on the timing. The legislation was modified to include Russia exactly around the time when Viktor Orbán visited Vladimir Putin. Thus, according to him, "it is a gift" from the Hungarian prime minister to the Russian president, a "direct sabotage" of EU policy towards Russia since the start of its invasion of Ukraine, and "a big middle finger to the rest of the EU and the Schengen area". He questioned whether the European Commission had consulted with neighbouring countries on any action.

Bóka was not allowed to participate in meeting, he says there is no security risk

The Patriots for Europe group, which was formed with Fidesz, had initiated that representatives of the Hungarian government be invited to the committee's meeting too, but this was rejected, János Bóka said. However, the Hungarian EU Affairs Minister travelled to Brussels on Wednesday and explained the government's position at a press conference, saying that "We are committed to an open and honest dialogue, but it is not possible without the Hungarian government. Without the participation of the Hungarian government, this is just political hysteria. It is time to stop this," he said, according to the state news agency MTI. The minister said that the previous arrangements for the programme had not been changed and neither the European Commission nor the member states had objected to them.

The National Card only facilitates access to employment in accordance with EU rules on visa issuance and entry, and does not pose any risk to national security, public safety or public order, neither for Hungary nor for the EU.

He said that the Hungarian authorities are applying strict security standards to protect the external and internal borders at all entry points, and the Hungarian government is committed to continuing this in the future.

According to EUrologus, Bóka said that the number of permits is not statistically significant, with ten Russian and four Belarusian citizens having been granted permanent residence and work permits with the card. He justified the extension on the grounds of the situation in the labour market, but when asked by EUrologus in which field these professionals are needed in Hungary, the minister replied: the same fields in which they work in other member states.

Kinga Gál, chair of the Fidesz delegation to the EP, said that with the beginning of the post-summer political season,

the European Parliament had begun the political attacks, "which have a very poor basis in reality, which lack facts and figures, and which are aimed at finding new ways to attack the current Hungarian government".

She said that the National Card was being used to make unfounded political distortions and that the regulation in no way jeopardizes the security of the Schengen system. Hungary has issued a negligible number of residence permits under the scheme in the past year, which shows that the dispute is a political campaign marked by double standards, she said.

We previously spoke with Russia expert András Rácz about the National Card, who told Telex that

“the enlargement of the programme is not a new security risk, as it has already been in the system and has not opened the door to potential Russian spies as wide as EU statements on the matter suggest.”

According to Zsolt Szekeres, a lawyer at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, national security does not solely depend on the National Card.