The European Commission recalled, through its Home Affairs Spokesman, Adalbert Jahnz, that Member States may not discriminate between their nationals and residents in the country from the rest of the EU or long-term residents in the same country but from non-Member States when entering their territory.
“Our guidelines [from 16 March] are very clear: they say that there should be no discrimination between nationals and Europeans residing in the country; countries cannot refuse entry to people with a residence permit, but the authorities can take quarantine measures and this must also apply to their own nationals”, the spokesman said.
The spokesman was reacting to information from a Guardian journalist who was stranded at the Hungarian border and was trying to return to his place of residence. The Hungarian authorities allegedly discriminate in internal border controls between Hungarian nationals who can enter the country and non-Hungarian EU residents, even with legal papers, who, according to the journalist, are forced to wait for hours and are even prevented from entering in some cases. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)