Coronavirus – Hungary, Croatia agree on cross-border commuting

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Sunday that he had agreed with his Croatian counterpart on cross-border commuting in areas near the border.

“Croatian grape farmers from Medimurje (Muraköz) have recently contacted my co-MP and friend Peter Cseresnyes about the border restrictions preventing them from crossing over to Hungary to farm their grapes in Muramente,” Szijjártó said on Facebook.

“And if they do not finish the work now then there certainly won’t be any harvest,” he added.

Szijjártó said he had called his counterpart Gordan Grlic-Radman and they quickly agreed to enable commuting over the border. This is good for the communities living near the border and for the economies of both countries, he added.

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“The two police captains will work out the details and spring work can start,” Szijjártó said.

He had also agreed with Slovak economy minister Richard Sulik to reopen a border crossing at Somoskűújfalu in northern Hungary which had been closed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, Hungarians and Slovaks working on the other side of the border, will be able to use the crossing to get to their jobs, Szijjártó said on his Facebook page.

“My co-MP and friend Karoly Becso said in parliament earlier this week that the closure of border-crossing between Hungary and Slovakia had caused them serious problems in Nograd,” he said. “Crops in the region are suffering because workers cannot get across”, he added, stating that an agreement was consequently reached on Friday about reopening the crossing.

“The economies of Hungary and Slovakia are tightly intertwined, our trade turnover was over 10 billion euros last year, so maintaining unhindered links is our common interest,” Szijjártó said.

Source: MTI