The European Commission has sent a second letter to Hungary asking for further clarifications about its National Card scheme.
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00:00The European Commission has confronted Hungary again about the new visa regime for citizens of Russia and Belarus.
00:08On Wednesday, the Home Affairs Commissioner Ilve Johansson sent another letter to the Hungarian government asking for more explanations.
00:15And she appeared before EU legislators.
00:20At a doorstep she told Euronews how Russia and Belarus pose a threat to the security of the EU since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
00:30We have a lot of examples of Russian citizens that are suspected of being part of espionage or attacks or sabotage or attacks on Ukrainian citizens in European Union.
00:44Of course that's why we are concerned and that's why we have taken this measure of suspending the visa regime,
00:50setting up new guidelines on very strict security assessment before you let anybody in.
00:59Hungary extended the work permit regime in July, originally available to Serbian and Ukrainian citizens, to four more EU candidate countries as well as Belarus and Russia.
01:09The Hungarian Minister for EU Affairs reacted by accusing the European Parliament and some Member States of political hysteria.
01:17He insisted that the country does not violate EU legislation.
01:22The international credit card system does not represent any national security, public security or public order related measures for Hungary or the EU.
01:35The international credit card system contains certain work conditions,
01:41and meets all EU regulations related to visa issuance and entry.
01:47BOKA cited Eurostaff data to say that at least seven other EU Member States issued more work visa permits than Hungary to citizens of Russia and Belarus last year.
01:57For its part, the Commission pointed to a drop of almost 90% in permits approved for these two countries since the suspension of visas in 2022.
02:08It also reminded legislators that entry into any Schengen country gives access to the entire area,
02:15which is made up of 29 European countries that have abolished internal border controls.