The EU will withhold part of future payments to Hungary over its refusal to pay a fine for violating the bloc's asylum rules, European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari announced on Wednesday.
Earlier this year, the European Court of Justice ordered Budapest to pay 200 million euros ($222 million), plus an extra million euros per day in fines, for depriving migrants of their right to seek asylum in the country, in violation of EU migration law.
Hungary, which holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of the year, has said it has no intention of paying the fine and recently pledged to send migrants arriving in the country to Brussels by bus.
According to the European Commission spokesman, the bloc will need time to identify the next payments that can absorb the fine.
The dispute between the EU and Hungary dates back to December 2020, when the bloc's top court first ruled that Budapest had limited access to asylum procedures for those seeking refuge in the country, making the process of filing applications more difficult. “practically impossible.” At the time, the court also ruled that Hungarian authorities were illegally holding asylum seekers in “transit zones” under conditions amounting to detention, while violating his right to appeal.
In 2023, EU lawmakers agreed on a landmark migration pact that envisages transferring illegal migrants, most of whom arrive in Italy and Greece after crossing the Mediterranean, to other EU states based on a quota system. Under the legislation, member states not located along the bloc’s external border can choose to accept refugees or pay compensation into the EU fund.
The measure was intended to help member states share responsibility for hosting migrants after eastern bloc countries were reluctant to take in those who had arrived in Greece, Italy and elsewhere. At the time, Hungary and Poland voted against the document, while Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic abstained.
At the time, Hungarian President Viktor Orban said Brussels had legally… “raped” Hungary and Poland tried to force through a deal that would force member states to accept quotas of illegal immigrants and promised not to make concessions to the EU on such a deal.
