Tytti Tuppurainen, the chairperson of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group, spoke to reporters after the group’s meeting in the Parliament House in Helsinki on 12 July 2024. Tuppurainen on Wednesday voiced her alarm with Hungary’s decision to effectively provide a security check-free route for Russians into the EU. (Roni Rekomaa – Lehtikuva)
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TYTTI TUPPURAINEN, the chairperson of the Social Democratic Parliamentary Group, urges the EU to respond to Hungary’s decision to effectively open a route into the 27-country bloc with no security controls for Russians, reports Helsingin Sanomat.
“Hungary must be excluded from the free movement in the Schengen Area,” she emphasised on Wednesday on X.
“Border controls must be introduced. Hungary mustn’t be driven out of the EU, but we have to protect ourselves.”
Hungary in July expanded its fast-track visa scheme to encompass eight additional countries, including Belarus and Russia. Previously available only to citizens of Serbia and Ukraine, the visas enable people to enter any of the 29 countries making up the Schengen Area via Hungary.
Tuppurainen on Wednesday reminded Helsingin Sanomat that border controls have been reinstated on lesser grounds, during the coronavirus pandemic, for example.
“Now it’d be fitting to reinstate border controls on the borders of Hungary because Hungary’s different stance on Russians is a potential security threat for the entire union. I’m of the opinion that the council should convene to discuss this issue without delay,” she stated.
Hungary assumed the presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 July. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán wasted little in delivering a hardly necessary reminder to other member states of his cosy ties with Russia by embarking on a self-styled peace mission that included a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The European Commission has indicated that it intends to determine whether the fast-track visa scheme aligns with rules of the Schengen Area.
Helsingin Sanomat also contacted Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen (NCP) on Wednesday, but her aides declined to comment on the issue on grounds that details of the visa scheme had yet been confirmed.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
