The EU Supreme Court imposed a €200 million fine on Hungary for persistently violating the asylum rules, despite the previous decision of the European Court. An additional €1 million was fined for each day of non-compliance (€216 million).
Points of attention
- Hungary will pay the EU a fine of €200 million euros for systematically violating asylum rules.
- The Supreme Court of the European Union pointed out Hungary's deliberate evasion of applying common EU policy as a whole.
- Hungarian President Viktor Orbán considers this decision outrageous and unacceptable, claiming that Budapest was punished for protecting the borders of the European Union.
- Hungary changed its asylum system after the 2015 crisis, which violated European Union rights.
- Hungary's Prime Minister plans to create a pro-Russian coalition for peace in the European Parliament, criticizing Western countries for their military ambitions.
Hungary will pay the EU fine: what is known
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has already reacted to such a decision.
The Independent reports this.
The press release of the Court of Justice of the European Union states that Hungary did not comply with the decision issued by the highest judges of the European Union in 2020.
This non-compliance, which consists of a deliberate evasion of the application of the common EU policy as a whole, is an unprecedented and extremely serious violation of EU law.
The publication recalled that Hungary's anti-immigration court had dealt harshly with people arriving in the country since more than 1 million people entered Europe in 2015, most of them seeking salvation due to the war in Syria.
The case concerns changes Hungary made to its asylum system after the crisis, when about 400,000 people passed through Hungary on their way to Western Europe. Hungary has built barbed-wire fences on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia, as well as several transit zones to hold asylum seekers on its border with Serbia. Subsequently, these transit zones were closed.
Such measures were part of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's stricter anti-immigration policy and the latest minimisation of Hungary's asylum system.
As recently as 2020, the European Court found that Budapest's policies limited access to international protection, illegally detained asylum seekers and failed to respect their right to stay in Hungary while their applications were processed.
At the same time, the European Court of Justice announced that the transit zones were closed in 2020, after the first decision of the European Court. However, the European Commission, which is responsible for monitoring compliance by the EU's 27 member states with common laws, says Budapest is still not complying with them, so it has gone to court to fine Hungary.
In addition, after the outbreak of the coronavirus, the Hungarian government passed a law under which those seeking international protection were forced to travel to Belgrade or Kyiv to obtain a permit to enter Hungary at the embassies of those countries. Only after returning did they have the opportunity to submit their applications.
The European Commission has taken Hungary to the European Court of Justice over the law, insisting that the country has failed to fulfill its obligations under the rules of the 27-nation bloc. These rules oblige all EU member states to have common asylum procedures. People have the right to seek asylum or other forms of international protection if they fear for their safety in their home country or face the prospect of persecution based on race, religion, ethnic origin, gender or other discrimination.
In his turn, the head of the Hungarian government, Viktor Orbán, called the decision of the EU Court "outrageous and unacceptable". According to him, this is how Budapest was punished for protecting the borders of the European Union.
The #ECJ’s decision to fine #Hungary with 200M euros plus 1M euros daily(!!!) for defending the borders of the European Union is outrageous and unacceptable. It seems that illegal #migrants are more important to the Brussels bureaucrats than their own European citizens.
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) June 13, 2024
One gets the impression that illegal migrants are more critical to Brussels bureaucrats than their European citizens.
Viktor Orban
Prime Minister of Hungary
Orban's position on the war in Ukraine
Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticised European countries for wanting to defeat the Russian Federation by military means. He emphasised that their goal is only "power and.”
Western leaders who have entered the path of war want to defeat Russia militarily. Their genius plan is absolutely simple, because it is about money, which gives influence and power.
It was also reported that Orban plans to create a pro-Russian "coalition for peace" in the European Parliament. He stated this on the eve of the elections to the European Parliament.
