Hungary has dismissed as “political hysteria” suggestions that its new work and residency permit plan for Russian and Belarusian people will increase the risk of espionage in the European Union.
“There is no legal or security issue with the national card,” Hungary’s minister for European Union affairs, Janos Boka, said at a press conference in Brussels.
“However there is… a clear political hysteria which is created by the majority of the European parliament and certain member states.”
Boka described the time of the visit and the extension as a “coincidence,” and stated that the plan had no effect on visa and admission procedures.
The European Commission and the European Parliament’s largest group expressed alarm after Hungary expanded a “national card” system to people of the two nations during the conflict in Ukraine.
Hungary’s national card system, which was previously exclusively available to Ukrainian and Serbian nationals, was expanded to include eight nations, including Russia and Belarus, in July.
The same month, Orban outraged fellow EU leaders by flying to Moscow to see Russian President Vladimir Putin, a few days after Hungary assumed the EU’s six-month rotating chair.
The concerns are part of broader tensions between EU leaders and the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has maintained tight connections with Moscow despite Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.
The possessor of such a card can operate in Hungary without requiring any particular security clearance and can bring their family with them.
“The National Card will be issued in accordance with the relevant EU framework and with due consideration of the possible security risks involved,” Hungary’s Interior Minister Sandor Pinter stated in a letter to the European Union’s internal affairs chief last month.
