Hungary’s Interior Minister Sándor Pintér dismissed claims by leftist MEPs in Brussels that the extension of the Hungarian ‘National Card’ system, which simplifies work visa procedures for neighboring non-EU nationals, poses any increased security risk to the Schengen Area. In a letter to the European Commission on Wednesday, August 21st, Pintér wrote that Hungary remains committed to protecting its external borders through rigorous screening, as it always has.
The letter was addressed to Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, who had raised concerns about Hungary’s decision to include Russian and Belarusian workers in the extended scheme earlier this month, citing some 70 leftist members of the European Parliament who accused Hungary of making it much easier for the Kremlin’s spies to enter the EU’s free movement area by giving them work visas “without security clearance.”
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó was quick to shut down the criticism by calling the claim a “childish lie.” He explained that the National Card system had been available for Ukrainian and Serbian guest workers for years, and that applicants had always been subject to the same (EU standard) security screenings as everyone else.
The inclusion of six other countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, and Belarus) in the program changes nothing in the established security protocols.
“Hungary will apply the same migration and security screening for National Card applications as in the case of other residence permits,” Pintér also explained in his letter, reassuring Brussels that there’s nothing to worry about, as the scheme will continue in accordance with the relevant EU framework. “The Hungarian legislation and practice, which the Commission has not objected to so far, has not changed.”
“Hungary continues to place great emphasis on the protection of its national security and the security of the Schengen area as a whole … [also] by protecting the external borders of the EU,” the minister added.
Hungary was the first EU member state to construct a fence along its entire border with non-EU-member Serbia, virtually eliminating illegal crossings into the Schengen on that route overnight. Back in 2015, Pintér was directly responsible for overseeing the project, which later became the inspiration for many other border walls in Europe.
A more detailed explanation of the National Card’s legal background has also been attached to the letter, but without being made public by Hungary’s EU ambassador János Bóka.
Brussels falsely accusing Hungary of something is nothing new but this case highlights the EU’s double standards particularly well.
While the Commission and the Parliament are busy worrying about Hungary, there is a ‘real’ visa scandal going on in Germany involving Annalena Baerbock’s Green foreign ministry forcing its own staff to relax security screenings, leading to actual foreign agents coming to the EU while posing as Afghan refugees. Yet, neither Johansson nor the European Parliament has said a single word about Baerbock so far.
