{"id":382115,"date":"2024-08-02T11:57:33","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T09:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/08\/02\/ungheria-sistema-visti-rapidi-russi\/"},"modified":"2024-08-12T18:32:17","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T16:32:17","slug":"eu-hungary-visa-system-russians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/08\/02\/eu-hungary-visa-system-russians\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Commission wants Hungary to clarify new fast-track visa system for Russians and Belarusians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – Barely a month has passed since Hungary took over\u00a0the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, and already Budapest has created quite a few problems for the unity of the Union vis-\u00e0-vis Russia. Because after\u00a0the “peace mission”<\/a> of the Hungarian premier, Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>, in visit to\u00a0the Russian autocrat,\u00a0Vladimir Putin<\/strong>, now Brussels is concerned about the potential hole that\u00a0Budapest may create in the Schengen area, from which Russian and Belarusian spies could penetrate.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Ylva<\/a>
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

“I share the concerns expressed in recent days about the extension of the ‘National Card’ program to citizens of Russia and Belarus<\/strong>, which came into effect in the very first days of your presidency,” said\u00a0European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson<\/strong>, in a letter<\/a> sent yesterday (Aug. 1) to Hungary’s Interior Minister, S\u00e1ndor Pint\u00e9r<\/strong>, in which she wanted to emphasize how “extending the facilitated processing of applications for residence and work permits<\/strong> of citizens of Russia and Belarus could lead to a de facto circumvention of restrictions imposed by the European Union.” At the center of the new contention between Orb\u00e1n’s Hungary and the EU Commission is the extension to citizens of eight countries–it was previously available only to those of Serbia and Ukraine–of the National Card scheme<\/a>, a fast-track visa system for entering the country and allowing people to work in Hungary’s national territory for up to two years. It is an easier system than a work permit or visa<\/strong> and it\u00a0allows for family reunification.<\/p>\n

“There are increasing reports of sabotage and attacks on our critical infrastructure and other hostile acts<\/strong>,” Commissioner Johansson recalls referring to\u00a0the deployment of “every available tool to ensure the security of the Schengen area,” including the suspension of visa facilitation agreement with Russia in September 2022, and “higher standards of control and vigilance” for Russian nationals arriving at the Union’s external borders. Member states still\u00a0have the competence to issue long-stay visas and residence permits. However,\u00a0the EU executive notes that national programs “must be carefully balanced\u00a0not to put at risk the integrity of our common area without internal border controls<\/strong> and to duly consider potential security implications.<\/strong>” She also spoke of\u00a0the obligation of “loyal cooperation” and not to undermine “the useful effect of the provisions of Union law,” including Schengen. Within this framework, Hungary (and all EU member states) must ensure that “Russian nationals who could pose espionage or other security threats are subjected to the highest level of scrutiny<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

\n

\"S\u00e1ndor<\/a>
From left: EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, and Hungary’s Interior Minister, S\u00e1ndor Pint\u00e9r<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Therefore, Commissioner Johansson is asking the Hungarian minister to answer the questions attached to the letter\u00a0by August 19 a<\/strong><\/strong>t the latest\u00a0to shed light on the ‘National Card’ scheme\u00a0and allow the EU executive to ascertain whether it is compatible with EU law or jeopardizes the overall functioning of the Schengen area. “The requirement\u00a0to assess whether individuals crossing the external border pose a threat to public policy,\u00a0internal security, public health, or international relations\u00a0is a fundamental commitment of all Schengen members,<\/strong>”\u00a0<\/strong>concludes the internal affairs commissioner. For Russia and Belarus, this also includes “the full and loyal\u00a0application of EU restrictive measures on the prohibition of enter into or transit through the territories of member states by certain of its nationals.”\u00a0As an extreme measure, the EU Commission could suspend the Schengen status <\/strong>of a (EU member) country, but it\u00a0would be unprecedented.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the beginning of July, Budapest has extended the ‘National Card’ scheme, which allows people to work in the country for up to two years, to citizens of Russia and Belarus. Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson demands explanation by Aug. 19 on potential “security threat to the Schengen area”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5647,"featured_media":382035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25681,25707],"tags":[25833,25835,28295,28684,26858,25803,28233,28685,28683,26225],"class_list":["post-382115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-world-politics","tag-viktor-orban-en","tag-belarus-en","tag-eu-belarus-en","tag-eu-russia-and","tag-russia-in-2","tag-sanctions-russia-en","tag-visti-russi-en","tag-sanctions-belarus-en","tag-visti-schengen-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382115"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":382120,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382115\/revisions\/382120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}