Hungarian minister explained the controversial National Card Programme in Strasbourg
Hungary is fulfilling its commitments to the European Union’s legal system while implementing its National Card procedure, and it conducts all the controls specified in the Schengen regulations, especially those related to security, on the third-country citizens applying for residency through the programme, the EU affairs minister said in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
Speaking at the European parliamentary debate on Hungary’s National Card programme, János Bóka said that similarly to other member states, Hungary was offering several types of residence permits to third-country citizens. One of those permit types is the National Card programme, he said.
The rights of member states to issue residence and work permits that ease procedural burdens or offer other advantages to the nationals of certain countries was, Bóka said, in itself no violation of EU law. Hungary continues to implement all security checks protecting the Schengen Area and is bound by EU law, he added.
Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides called Belarus and Russia threats to the security of the European Union. The EU had called on member states to tighten visa regulations and border checks for Russian citizens in view of the “concerning degree of Russian espoinage”, she said.
Fidesz MEP András László said European countries had issued 687,239 visas to Russian citizens in the year the war started. In 2023, “dozens of weeks after the war started”, France issued 99,517 visas to Russians, Spain gave out 92,414, and Greece 54,289. “Do you know how many debates the European Parliament held over that? Zero.”
Of the Russian citizens legally in the EU on January 1, 2023, Hungary issued visas to fewer than 1 percent, László said.
In July and August, Hungary issued a total of 10 permits to Russians within the National Card programme, he said.
Others should “respect our independence, laws and customs”
Mi Hazánk MEP Zsuzsanna Borvendég said Hungary expected others to “respect our independence, laws and customs”. Citing security risks when criticising Hungary was “hypocritical as the EU had been allowing millions of illegal migrants in without any control for years”, she said.
She called on the EU to pay the 2 billion euros she said the protection of the EU and Hungary’s border had cost, and to free up the resources “my country is entitled to”.
Csaba Molnar, an MEP of the opposition Democratic Coalition, said that while “the Hungarian prime minister is preaching about border protection, the government is actually opening one back door after the other for those wanting to come to the EU, without any vetting to speak of. This is not about guest workers or migration, this is a severe security risk.”
He insisted that Hungary’s government had opened the EU’s gates to droves of “Russian and Belarusian spies, sleeper agents and war criminals.”
Hungary requests exemption from EU migration regulations
Curbing illegal migration requires drastic steps and Hungary is requesting exemption from implementing the European Union’s asylum and migration regulations, the minister for EU affairs said in Strasbourg on Wednesday. Speaking to Hungarian journalists, Bóka said Hungary had been informed that the Netherlands is preparing a similar step, and Hungary will do the same, should an amendment to the EU treaties make that possible.
“We are taking the necessary legal and administrative steps. Hungary is and will continue to be a committed member of the Schengen Area,” he said. The Dutch government submitted an official request on Wednesday, seeking exemption from the new asylum and migration pact coming into force in 2026.
Read also:
- Exposed: Orbán Cabinet builds massive refugee camp near the Hungarian-Austrian border – read more HERE
- Hungary’s exclusion from Schengen Zone discussed in EP amid National Card controversy
Featured image: depositphotos.com
You can not call your nation independent or sovereign, when you need to follow some rules. One more time, this is why UK Left and why countries like Norway and Switzerland did not join the EU. The EU has many problems and somehow i am supporting legal migration, if there is a process to check backgrounds and crimes, but currently there is none, but the EU problems could really be solved even in a short term. What is unsolvable is the stupidity of Hungarian politicians. Always using fear and attacks to everyone who do not agree with them. But probably the fines and the lack of payment will be the beginning of the end on Hungary in the EU. Fingers crossed!🙏🏻🤞🏻
I hope there is no end to Hungary in the EU … We stand much to lose, and very little (if anything) to gain. Never did get a response from the usual suspect to my questions, multiple times, regarding listings of BREXIT benefits.
Regarding requesting EU “opt outs”. Political theatre, pure and simple. As of 2023, three states have formal opt-outs from a total of four policy areas, and they all go quite a way back (since, surprise surprise, a unanimous is required by the Members – not happening).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opt-outs_in_the_European_Union
Regarding controls – if the issuance of passports is anything to go by – “are you of Hungarian heritage? Please indicate Yes / No”:
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-tightens-conditions-visa-waiver-program-hungary-2023-08-01/
“In a statement, the U.S. embassy in Budapest said the validity period offered to Hungarians under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) will be immediately reduced from two years to one year, and that only single visits will be allowed under the system and not multiple visits.
Hungary granted citizenship to about one million people between 2011 and 2020 – mostly ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring states – “without adequate security measures in place to verify their identities”, the U.S. embassy said.
The citizenship grants were a political move by Orban that earned him votes in subsequent elections.
A senior U.S. government official said the modifications did not apply to any of the other 39 participants in the Visa Waiver Program and were “unique to Hungary”.
“There’s a systemic problem, which is hundreds of thousands of passports were issued between 2011 and 2020 without identity verification requirements in place,” the official said.”
Do not recall any Politician disputing the above? Happy to be corrected!
Addition:
The Dutch government has asked the EU Commission for an exception to EU asylum law. However, it is highly unlikely that it will be successful.
The EU responded as follows: They have taken note of the letter. And also that the Dutch Minister for Migration acknowledges that such an opt-out would only be possible through changes to the EU treaties. However, the EU does not expect any changes to the EU regulations on asylum and migration.
The government in The Hague knows this too. Therefore, as long as no exit from the regulation is possible, it is calling for the EU asylum pact, which has already been agreed and is to be implemented in two years, to be implemented quickly in order to limit the influx of migrants, as stated in the letter to the EU Commission, which is only a few lines long. The letter is primarily intended to send a message to the country’s own population that it is prepared to change asylum law.