National Card applicants will have to go through the same migration and security screenings as applicants for any other residence permit, the Hungarian state secretary for government communications, Zoltán Kovács, has said.
Kovács’s comments came a week after missing the deadline for a response to the Commission over concerns raised among EU countries for Hungary’s decision to include nationals of Russia and Belarus in its National Card, thus easing entry rules for them, Schengen.News.
According to Kovács, these cards can be obtained for a stay between 90 days and two years, for employment purposes, stressing that applicants are required to have an employer and an actual position. He added that holders of the National Card are required to reapply if they change their job.
The state secretary said the National Card Program has been kept in place for quite some time. However, it has not received criticism from the European Union up until recently.
If it was all right earlier, why are we getting attacked now while the regulations and the practice have been unchanged?.
718,000 Russian Citizens Staying in the EU, Less Than 1% in Hungary
Mentioning the figures provided by the statistical office of the European Union, Eurostat, Kovács said that more than 718,000 Russians had been staying in the EU countries in 2023, while fewer than one per cent of that group in Hungary, stressing that the same ratio applied to Belarusian nationals as well.
In view of those figures Brussels’ worries about Russian spies in Hungary seem a bit unrealistic.
A Large Number of Russians Living in Baltic States
Kovács also said that “huge masses of Russians” lived in the Baltic states, emphasising that these countries were “most critical of Hungary’s National Card system and the alleged risks around it”.
Recently, Hungary decided to expand its National Card to include Russians and Belarussians, which decision sparked controversies among the bloc.
Soon after the decision, the European Commission sent a letter to Budapest requesting an explanation for the easing of entry rules for nationals of Russia and Belarus.
In addition, the leaders of the Baltic and Nordic states sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, expressing their concerns that Hungary’s new changes “may constitute a serious security risk.”
The issue is expected to be discussed in the upcoming EU foreign ministers’ meeting, which is set to be held on August 28.
Recently, the Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás, also dismissed national card concerns, stressing that currently there are 6,000 nationals of Russia working in Hungary and 300,000 in Germany.
Gulyás said the European Commission would be informed of a decision to include Russians and Belarusians in the National Card while adding the matter “does not concern the body”.
