A globális, az európai uniós vírusválság határpolitikai hatásai.
Authors: Hajdú Zoltán 
Published: December 2021

Összefoglaló. Az elmúlt mintegy másfél év alatt a COVID–19 vírus
valójában több struktúrában megrengette a világot, az Európai Uniót és egyes
országokat is. A világ államai rövid idő alatt bezárkóztak, az Európai Unió 30
napra lezárta külső határait, az egyes tagállamok pedig az uniós belső határokat
is lezárták. Veszélybe került a schengeni rendszer. A Kárpát-medence államai az
elsők között reagáltak a határok lezárásával. Az egyéni döntések kritikája
erőteljesen megjelent az Európai Bizottság részéről. A globális, az európai és a
szomszédállami folyamatok összefüggtek. A határok lezárása feltehetően
hozzájárult a vírus terjedésének a korlátozásához. (Ausztrália példája ezt
erősíti.) A határzárak a nemzetközi tranzitforgalomban, a határ menti
területeken élők és az ingázók között okozták a legnagyobb bizonytalanságot,
több esetben zűrzavart.

Summary. According to the first ‘official announcement’ in December
of 2019 the Covid-19 virus is reported to have emerged in China. The global
spread of the virus was extremely fast. On 11 March 2020, the WHO declared
Covid-19 to be a global pandemic. As of 31 March 2020 about 91% of the world
population lived in countries with border and travel restrictions (border-closed
world). The brief analysis reviews the main processes affecting EU and Member
States borders, with a special regard to Hungary and its neighbours in the
Carpathian Basin. On 17 March 2020, the EU closed its external borders for 30
days.to non-EU citizens. In parallel, a number of Member States decided to close
their borders to both Schengen Zone members and third countries. As a response
to border closures, the EU Commission and some states organized the repatriation
of about 600,000 EU citizens. On 4 March, virus was officially reported to have
been detected in Hungary. On 11 March the Hungarian Government declared a
national state of emergency. On 15 March the first coronavirus-related death was
announced. On 16 March the Government ordered the complete closure of Hungarian
borders. After a border ‘traffic chaos’ along the Austrian-Hungarian border, the
Hungarian Government – with collaborations with Romania – opened humanitarian
corridors for foreign citizens. The possibilities of border crossings of
citizens of seven neighbours of Hungary were formed not just by Hungary. In 2020
because of different changes (modifications, opening and closing) we could form
at least three categories: open borders, partly open borders, closed borders. In
the neighbouring countries (Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia,
Croatia, Slovenia) the progression of the epidemic followed the same pattern.
Over the past year and a half the virus crisis has actually shaken many
structures of the globalized world, the European Union and many countries in the
Carpathian Basin. The virus crises has disrupted intensive connections between
Hungary and neighbouring countries. Neither Hungary nor its neighbours were able
to insulate themselves from the epidemic waves. The border restrictions
primarily affected the movements of persons. Because of ‘permanent uncertainty’
commuters were the losers of the crisis.