PM GYURCSÁNY’S IDEA VIOLATES EU-REGULATIONS

Early in September Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány paid a state visit to Beijing and urged that Chinese citizens could travel visa-free to Hungary and to other EU-countries.

Magyar Nemzet asked Frisco Roscam Abbing, spokesman of EU Commissionaire Franco Frattini about the case and he said the Hungarian Premier had not violated any regulations as Hungary was not a member of the Schengen Treaty yet but later he called the correspondent of Magyar Nemzet by phone correcting his standpoint which turned out to be the opposite one: the EU regulation of 539/2001 makes it clear that the new member states are obliged to demand visa from Chinese citizens and any alteration can be made only by a decision of the Council of Europe though Hungary has the right to demand a visa or deny it from a Chinese citizen. ’What your Premier said was just a political statement or the expression of a wish but it has no real consequence’, the spokesman added. Béla Glattfelder MEP (People’s Party) said his party could not accept the visa-free status of one billion Chinese citizens and reminded of the fact that the report of the European Parliament harshly criticized China for the disquieting state of human rights there.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó