Hungary Opens the Gates for Russians and Belarusians

Suspend Hungary from Schengen

Estonia's Eesti Päevaleht writes:

“Hungary's current behaviour is showing yet again how the lack of democracy in one member state can cause problems for us all. Orbán's solidarity with Russia would be the sovereign right of a nation if we had not agreed on a common foreign policy for the European Union. ... Opening up a hole in the border system for Russian and Belarusian citizens invalidates the efforts of all the other countries. Temporarily expelling Hungary from the Schengen system could be a pretty effective way of communicating to voters there that autocracy has no place in the EU.”

This could anger the EU

This step could have serious consequences for Hungary, Hungary's Magyar Hang worries:

“With great difficulty - in response to US pressure - we threw out the spy bank [the Russian International Investment Bank IIB had relocated its headquarters from Moscow to Budapest from 2019 to 2023] and now ten times more people can sneak through this glaringly open gap. And once they are here, they can go wherever they want within the Schengen Area to steal, spy, kill, whatever they have been paid to do. ... The US has just made it more difficult for Hungarian citizens to apply for a facilitated visa precisely because too many fraudsters and crooks now have Hungarian passports. We should not be surprised if the EU decides to clamp down too.”

Other Topics of Interest

Orban 'Does Not Represent' EU on Georgia Visit: Borrell

Orban, who currently holds the bloc's presidency and is the Kremlin's EU ally, is due in Georgia on Monday in a show of support to the ruling party, which has been accused of leaning toward Russia.

Lightning response from Brussels?

The EU is giving the Kremlin plenty of time to infiltrate the bloc with its agents, warns Ukraine's Obosrewatel:

“Brussels has traditionally acted 'operationally': The Union's leaders are not planning to discuss this weak point until the next summit of EU leaders in October. By then, anyone Putin wants to be in the EU will already be there. Putin had to involve his 'covert ally' in order to 'shake up' the West again. The so-called 'special operation' in Ukraine is once again not going to plan, the offensive is stalling, so the bunker [ruler] urgently needs to build more momentum in the hybrid war against the EU.”

Reprinted from eurotopics.net. See the original here.