Coronavirus. Orban’s firm words on EU Council recommendations

• Orban will only allow residents of Serbia to enter Hungary. As Reuters reminds, a large Hungarian minority lives in Serbia
• People traveling through Hungary will be able to use the “humanitarian corridor”
• The EU Council recommendation on the opening of borders to selected countries is not a legally binding instrument

– For now, we can not fulfill the EU demand (…) because it would be contrary to the health interests of Hungarian citizens – said Orban in a video posted on his Facebook profile.

At the end of June, the EU capitals agreed on a list of countries from which to come to Europe: Canada, Algeria, Australia, Georgia, Tunisia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand and Uruguay.

Orban will only allow residents of Serbia to enter Hungary. As Reuters reminds, a large Hungarian minority lives in Serbia.

People traveling through Hungary will be able to use the “humanitarian corridor”, which will be re-created for this purpose, as it was at the beginning of the pandemic in Europe, Orban said.

– Everyone traveling through Hungary will have to use this corridor. (Travelers) will not be able to leave this route, and we will maintain strict border controls on the spot, ”added Orban.

Until Wednesday in Hungary there were 4,000 157 coronavirus cases, and 586 people died.

Coronavirus. Recommendation of the EU Council

The EU Council recommendation on the opening of borders to selected countries is not a legally binding instrument, because it is the authorities of the Member States that are responsible for opening and closing the borders. However, the EU recommendation was to make it happen in a coordinated way.

The criteria taken into account when lifting current travel restrictions include the epidemiological situation and measures to limit the spread of coronavirus, as well as “economic and social considerations”.

In addition, countries to which the EU is opening should have a stable or decreasing trend of infection within two weeks.

The EU travel restriction introduced in mid-March due to a pandemic applies to the “EU + area”, which includes all Schengen Member States, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania, as well as four Schengen associated countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland ).

The list of countries to which the EU is open can be updated every two weeks by the EU Council after close consultation with the European Commission and relevant EU agencies and services.

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