End of Schengen Zone at the Hungarian-Austrian border? Locals protested

Tens of thousands of Hungarians live in the westernmost villages of Hungary and work in Eastern Austria for higher salaries. However, to do so, they have to cross the border daily, generating an immense hike concerning traffic in small Eastern Austrian villages. One of the villages lost patience and closed their border crossing two years ago. The result is that Hungarians must take a 30-kilometre-long detour, which is why they protested yesterday.

Does the end of the Schengen Zone draw near?

Many Hungarians work abroad to earn much more than they would in Hungary. The number of Hungarian expats living in Western Europe is in the hundreds of thousands, and among their number one target countries are the United Kingdom (before Brexit), Germany and Austria. Since Austria and Hungary are neighbouring countries, many Hungarians decide not to move to Austria but to live (and spend their higher salaries) in Western Hungary while working in Austria.

Such employees must cross the border at least twice daily, generating traffic jams even at low-traffic border crossings. Furthermore, they must cross several Eastern Austrian villages to reach their destinations, chiefly one of the larger cities like Vienna or Wiener Neustadt (Bécsújhely). Such Eastern Austrian villages were silent and calm before Hungary’s Schengen Zone accession (December 2007). Now, they are full of cars carrying the Hungarian workforce. As a result, locals were dissatisfied and staged several protests to stop the influx of Hungarian employees on the road.

One of the villages, Schattendorf (Somfalva), took serious steps to solve the situation. Securing the backing of the local government, Thomas Hoffmann decided to close the Schattendorf-Ágfalva border crossing in 2023. As a result, Hungarians must take a detour of more than 30 kms. On Saturday, Hungarians protested against the decision on the Ágfalva side of the border. Telex wrote that nobody can cross the border regardless of whether they have permission or not.

Even permit-holders cannot cross

The reason why the Austrian village’s local government closed the border crossing was that they wanted to create a pedestrian zone near the local cemetery. Hundreds of Hungarians used the border crossing before. The mayor added then that the locals got fed up with the increased traffic generated by the Hungarians.

After the closure, the local government issued permits for those who were enthusiastic enough to pay EUR 200 and submit several documents. However, even they have been unable to cross the border for at least the past year because the fixed traffic bollards no longer operate.

There are legal concerns about the decision of the local government. In January, Telex wrote that the Austrian Supreme Court would decide on the resolution after evaluating the written stance of the parties.

The most faithful Hungarian town

Why do Eastern Austrian villages have a Hungarian name? The reason is that the region, Burgenland, was part of the Hungarian Kingdom before the Peace Treaty of Trianon (1920). Sopron and its neighbourhood would also have been given to the newly-created Austria then, but a Hungarian uprising broke out there, defeating Austrian police units. As a result, the great powers allowed locals to decide which country they would like to live in. Despite the high number of German-speaking residents, the locals’ majority voted for Hungary in December 1921, so Hungary got back 257 km². This is why Sopron was awarded the title of “civitas fidelissima”, the “most faithful town” by the Hungarian Parliament.

Read also:

• Attention! Hungary reintroduces Schengen border control on the entry side from this country – read more HERE
• Hungary’s exclusion from Schengen Zone discussed in EP amid National Card controversy – details in THIS article