Russians and Belarusians flooding the EU with Hungary’s help? – here’s the minister’s answer

Concerning a decision to expand the National Card programme to include Russians and Belarusians wishing to work in Hungary, Gergely Gulyás, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office said on a yesterday press conference that the matter did not concern the European Commission, but it would still be briefed on it.

No work permit needed for Russians, Belarusians in Hungary

He said there are 6,000 Russians working in Hungary and 300,000 in Germany, adding that “talking about national security risks is reminiscent of bad times.” He said objections to the programme were of a political nature, arguing that there were no differences in national security screenings when it came to the National Card programme, and all it meant was that those who qualified for the programme did not have to apply for a work permit.

As regards a lawsuit launched by Hungarian universities against the European Commission over the decision to exclude them from the Erasmus programme, Gulyás said Hungary has been waiting for a reply from the EU in the matter for nine months, insisting that it “could be settled in 10 minutes”.

Asked how much money the EU was withholding from Hungary citing concerns over the state of the rule of law and corruption, Gulyás said Hungary now had access to 13 billion euros from the 21 billion euro budget, and the government was hopeful that the entire sum would become accessible.

Health restrictions?

Asked about the mpox outbreak, he said Hungary has a representation at the World Health Organisation, and the health authority is monitoring the situation to see if it is necessary to take any steps in the matter in Hungary, but so far there was no need to introduce any restrictions.

Asked about reducing the difference between the minimum and the average wage, Gulyás said it was up to the government to make that decision, but “it would be best if employers and employees reached an agreement.” He said the government wanted a longer-term, three-year agreement running until 2027, as this would open the door to a “significant and radical minimum wage increase”, or possibly merging or narrowing the gap between the basic minimum wage and the minimum wage for skilled workers.

Crude oil deal

Asked about MOL taking over the transit of crude oil at the border between Russia and Ukraine, he said the solution would add about “a dollar and a half” per barrel to the price, but the government did not want consumer prices to rise.

In response to another question, he said food price inflation had gone down “radically”, and “all signs are pointing to the annual inflation rate staying below 4 percent.”

Meanwhile, he said that if former US president Donald Trump did not win the presidential election in November, “then as far as the government is concerned, we’ll be living under a plan B”, arguing that the US Democratic administration had made decisions that had prolonged the war in Ukraine.

Stressing that Hungary respected the decision of the American electorate, he said the government’s “plan A” would be a US administration that was “friendlier to Hungary”. He said Trump had promised to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, “which would be good for both the Hungarian and the global economy”.

Gulyás said that if the US wanted peace, it was strong enough to achieve it.

Transcarpathian Hungarians evicted in Hungary

On another subject, he said the government has scrapped state housing subsidies for Ukrainian refugees who did not flee to Hungary from the war zone. He said only a small portion of them were ethnic Hungarians from western Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region, and the measure was in line with the steps taken by Czechia, Poland and Romania.

He said the state had supported the housing of some 4,000 refugees who had not taken on a job, adding that the government had reached out to the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta to manage any difficulties that will arise as a result of the decision.

Meanwhile, Gulyás said that if Hungary complied with the recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union in connection with Hungary’s border protection policy, “effective border protection would cease to exist.” He added, at the same time, that Hungary aimed to reach an agreement with the European Commission on complying with the ruling as quickly as possible so that it could limit the fine it has to pay, adding that the EC will be ready to negotiate starting next month.

On another subject, he said Hungary’s debt to China reached 2.5 billion euros, which he said was “not particularly significant”.

He said Chinese police officers were already conducting patrols in Hungary but were not allowed to take action on their own.

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