The Commissioner considered that granting visas to citizens of Russia and Belarus is “disproportionate” and represents a “potential danger to the security of the Schengen area”.
On Wednesday, the European Commission sent another letter to the Hungarian government asking about granting visas to Russian and Belarusian citizens, which the EU executive considers a “danger” to the security of the European Union (EU).
The information was provided by Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson during a hearing at the European Parliament (EP).
The Commissioner considered that granting visas to citizens of Russia and Belarus is “disproportionate” and represents a “potential danger to the security of the Schengen area”: “Why does the Hungarian government consider this decision appropriate in the current political context?”
Ylva Johansson reminded MEPs that she had already sent a letter to Viktor Orbán’s government on 1 August questioning this decision.
EU warns Hungary that facilitating entry of Russians and Belarusians could compromise security
The only explanation Budapest gave was that it needed Allowing Russian experts to enter to complete the construction of a nuclear power plant that was being built using Russian technology.
But Ylva Johansson replied: “I understand that Hungary, like almost all member states, has a shortage of labour resources, but couldn’t it find these workers in the EU or through agreements with third countries?”
The issue gained particular relevance not only in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also because Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was the only leader of a European country to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The last time was in early July, at the start of Hungary’s EU Council presidency, during a highly criticised visit to Moscow.
Ylva Johansson also revealed in the European Parliament that there had been a “huge increase” in the number of Investigations into paedophilia in countries of the European Unionand warned that some Member States described the increase in these crimes as a “pandemic”.
The Swedish commissioner has made the fight against paedophilia one of the hallmarks of her mandate and regretted the fact that there has been an increase in the number of crimes committed digitally.
The commissioner said the 2011 directive on child sexual abuse needed to be reviewed as new forms of such offences had emerged.
In particular, the creation of digital images using artificial intelligence, based on images of real children, is proliferating and has no criminal framework, which is why Ylva Johansson stressed that it is necessary to update legislation, so that the 27 are prepared to punish these crimes.
Source: Observadora
