EU affairs minister: EC ‘whipping up emotions’ on Hungary National Card

Janos Boka also posted a letter signed by Interior Minister Sandor Pinter, written to EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson who has earlier voiced concerns about extending the card programme to include Russians and Belarusians wishing to work in Hungary.

Boka said in the post that applications for the card were tied to the same migration and security screening processes as other residence permits.

The card is issued only in consideration of the relevant EU guidelines and after an assessment of security risks, and the EU had so far not objected to the practice, he said.

Hungary is hosting only a fraction of Russian and Belarusian citizens currently staying in the EU, and the country issues a fraction of EU residence permits for Russian and Belarusian citizens, he said.

Pinter said in the letter that Hungary continued to place great emphasis on the protection of its national security and the security of the Schengen area as a whole.