On the issue of immunity certificates, Gulyás said that Hungary, just like other countries, currently only accepts its own certificates automatically.Continue reading
Hungary and Romania have agreed to mutually accept each other’s immunity certificates, Romanian prime minister Florin Cîțu confirmed on Thursday. Unfortunately, this does not change the fact that Transylvanian Hungarians who were vaccinated in Romania but live in Hungary cannot get a Hungarian immunity certificate.
Florin Cîțu said the foreign ministries of the two nations are still finalizing the formalities of the agreement, but they are in agreement to accept each other’s on immunity certificates. In fact, Cîțu told MTI that Romania is willing to accept all EU member state’s immunity certificates.
The Romanian prime minister brought up the complications of the European Union’s green certificate, which he would prefer to be over with as soon as possible.
The fact that there is a green certificate or that Europe wants to introduce a green certificate shows just that, that there are benefits for people that vaccinate, there are benefits in traveling from country to country. I don’t want to have this green certificate, I want us to be free without having bureaucracy, which is why we need to vaccinate, there is no other solution.”
This agreement comes as a boon to Hungary, which is now facing some difficulty after the European Parliament voted not to require the automatic authorization of non-EMA approved vaccines for its upcoming green certificate, also known as a “vaccine passport.”
All of Hungary’s immunity certificates are impacted by this regulation, since none of them contain the type of vaccine that was used for inoculation. Thankfully, multiple countries, such as Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Bahrain have made bilateral agreements with Hungary to recognize one another’s vaccine certificates.
News of Hungary and Romania’s agreement had been brought up first by Hunor Kelemen, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ) and deputy prime minister of Romania.
Kelemen told the Transylvanian newspaper Krónika about the plans that had been made by the two nations one week prior, emphasizing that this agreement is only applicable to travel, not to issuing immunity certificates.
This means that anyone vaccinated in Romania but living in Hungary will not be eligible for a Hungarian immunity certificate, the same way someone vaccinated in Hungary will not be eligible for an immunity certificate in Romania. Many Transylvanian Hungarians have dual Hungarian-Romanian citizenships, and unfortunately many of them might be in such a situation.
Featured photo illustration by Tibor Rosta/MTI
