Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said the European Commission will be briefed on a decision to expand the National Card program to include Russians and Belarusians wishing to work in Hungary, even though the matter does not concern the body.
Gulyás said there are 6,000 Russians working in Hungary and 300,000 in Germany, adding that “talking about national security risks is reminiscent of bad times.” He said objections to the program were of a political nature, arguing that there were no differences in national security screenings when it came to the National Card program, and all it meant was that those who qualified for the program did not have to apply for a work permit. Meanwhile, he said that if former US president Donald Trump did not win the presidential election in November, “then as far as the government is concerned, we’ll be living under a plan B”, arguing that the US Democratic administration had made decisions that had prolonged the war in Ukraine. Stressing that Hungary respected the decision of the American electorate, he said the government’s “plan A” would be a US administration that was “friendlier to Hungary”. He said Trump had promised to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, “which would be good for both the Hungarian and the global economy”. Gulyás said that if the US wanted peace, it was strong enough to achieve it.