Szijjártó: Hungary to allow transit of romanian, bulgarian nationals

Lorries crossing Hungary to and from neighbouring countries will have to use specially assigned routes and designated fuel stations before departing the country at particular crossings along the Serbian, Ukrainan and Romanian borders, a government official said. The lorries will also have to carry special permits, Tamás Menczer, parliamentary state secretary for communications told parliament’s public welfare committee. He noted that international road, rail and air passenger traffic has been suspended, though Ferenc Liszt International Airport is still operating so that Hungarian citizens abroad can return home. Any Hungarian entering the country from Italy, China, South Korea, Israel and Iran must self-isolate at home for a period of two weeks, he added.

Hungary will open a transit route for Romanian and Bulgarian citizens stranded at the Austrian-Hungarian border on Tuesday night, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said. In a Facebook entry, Szijjártó said he had held talks with his Bulgarian and Romanian counterparts by phone, who had asked that Hungary enable their citizens stranded in Austria to return home. “Our priority is protecting the health of Hungarians,” Szijjártó said. “This is the aim of the border protection measures.” Taking all this into consideration, Hungary will allow Romanian and Bulgarian citizens a one-off transit through Hungary on a fixed route on Tuesday night, Szijjártó said. He added that Hungary expected both the Bulgarian and Romanian authorities to inform their citizens that Hungary’s borders are closed to all foreign travellers. Hungary also expects the Austrian authorities to maintain order on their side of the border and to ensure the safe passage of Hungarian citizens and freight traffic into the country, the minister said.

Meanwhile, public news channel M1 reported that foreign nationals had blocked traffic at the Hegyeshalom border station in an effort to persuade the Hungarian authorities to open the border. According to M1’s on-site correspondent, some 60-70 people got out of their vehicles around noon and have since been blocking the entry of freight trucks into Hungary. The Győr-Moson-Sopron county police said a 20km tailback had formed on the Austrian side of the border.

(MTI)