Published: 19.1.2022
The Orbán government has abandoned Hungarians who had been vaccinated with vaccines from the East, (i.e. vaccines not authorized by the EU), as confirmed by Brussels records, said MSZP MEP István Ujhelyi in his online press conference.
The Socialist politician based his statement on the fact that although the Hungarian government delegate had numerous opportunities to make proposals in the competent committee to ensure the free travel of Hungarian citizens with Eastern vaccinations, he did not do so, according to the minutes from the meetings he had requested. At the press conference, Ujhelyi described the EU’s single Digital COVID Certificate as an important achievement the creation of which, he said, had played a significant role in preventing Europe’s functioning and economy from collapsing completely due to the impacts of the epidemic. He added, however, that there are at least two million Hungarian citizens who, having been forced to take vaccines from the East, are not entitled to the privileges of the single COVID certificate and are therefore discriminated against when traveling for work, study or commuting, for example, because they do not qualify as fully vaccinated.
“I was called an anti-vaccination murderer when I warned the government about this, but even then it was more concerned with propaganda and serving Fidesz economic circles than the fate of the Hungarian people”; Ujhelyi said. He added that after the government was unable to conclude a sufficient number of bilateral agreements with other countries on the recognition of Eastern vaccines, it started lobbying for at least the third, EU vaccines to be recognized as a condition for the COVID certificate. Ujhelyi said that in September last year, at his request, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, confirmed in writing that the issue would be put on the agenda of the Health Security Committee meeting.
However, this would require a proposal from a Hungarian government delegate at one of the panel’s meetings, the MSZP politician pointed out. At the press conference, the Socialist MEP explained that they had asked to see the minutes of the committee’s meetings, and they prove that the Fidesz government’s delegate had not once raised the issue of travel restrictions for Hungarians vaccinated with Eastern vaccines.
“Gergely Gulyás said at a recent government info session that the government delegate must have done everything he could on the matter and that he would look into the details. And pertaining to this case Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said: ‘we are literally lobbying on the matter’; Like hell you do! Not only have they not lobbied, but they are not even able to give us any answers on the matter, nor will they tell us who the government representative on this committee is. The government is lying and does not even realize the hardship that its decisions have caused hundreds of thousands of Hungarians. Fidesz is apparently only interested in political and financial gain in the management of the epidemic”; István Ujhelyi said.
MSZP’s European politician stressed that the EU is currently in the process of renegotiating the European covid-pass framework, so this will be an opportunity for the government to take substantive action, if they failed to do so thus far. Ujhelyi added that, as an MEP, he is in permanent consultation with the European Commission and will table the necessary amendments during the parliamentary process to ensure that the situation is handled in a reassuring way.
Budapest/Brussels – 18.01.2022.