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Brussels has been repeating for months that closing borders is not the solution to the pandemic and calling on States to report their measures when they affect other European partners. Viktor Orbán has another opinion. The Hungarian prime minister will close his country for a month from tomorrow Tuesday to foreign visitors, also those who travel from countries of the Schengen area, with the intention of curbing imported infections. The movement has not been communicated to the European Commission, and makes Budapest the first capital in the free movement zone to once again restrict the transit of people, after the hasty and uncoordinated closure of the first wave of the virus.
“Most of the new infections are of foreign origin. Hungary is green and the rest of the countries are turning red, "said a government spokesman on Friday, referring to the growing number of cases detected in the EU. Budapest will allow its nationals to return as long as they quarantine or test negative twice. With the restrictions they seek to maintain the country with one of the lowest incidences of the virus on the continent, with only 10.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days —20 times less than Spain, without taking into account the tests carried out.
The Commission has confirmed this Monday that it has not been informed of Orbán's bolt, and recalls that any response must be proportionate, coordinated, and based on epidemiological criteria. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) does not recommend border closure. And Brussels fears a repeat of the cascading announcements of the first wave, when its advice fell on deaf ears.
The activism to avoid it is obvious. The Commission sent the capitals a letter on August 7 urging them to keep the borders open despite the outbreaks and to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. The cross quarantines between Member States, and the disparity of criteria used to require or not the isolation of travelers have evidenced the difficulties to maintain unity of action in matters that are national competence, such as border management and restrictions, generating insecurity both those who travel and the punished tourism sector.
With the threat of a new chaos flying over the scene, Berlin and Paris have made a common front to harmonize the rules on quarantines and the requirement of tests for travelers in Schengen. Asked about the Franco-German initiative, the European Commission has revealed that they are already working on it. On Friday there was a first technical meeting of the Twenty-seven with three points on the table: to set common criteria on when there is an epidemiological risk, to implement a common color system to indicate danger areas that prevents the same region from being in red for a country and in orange for another, as well as unifying the requirements for testing and quarantine for those who return from areas hit by the pandemic.
Orbán's unilateral border closure adds pressure and urgency to Brussels' efforts to contain a new man for himself, almost unthinkable after months of self-criticism due to the lack of coordination. Hungary will make exceptions by allowing the entry of diplomats, business travelers, military convoys and humanitarian aid. But they still have one issue to resolve that concerns Spanish citizens. The Hungarian government is studying how to deal with the arrival of supporters from Sevilla and Bayern Munich, who will play the European Football Super Cup in Budapest on September 24.
Low-cost airline Wizz Air has already announced that it will reduce its flights to the country from the 126 weekly it currently operates to just 32.
Information about the coronavirus
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