The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ordered Hungary to pay €200 million plus a penalty of €1 million per day if it does not comply with the court’s ruling of December 2020 to abide by “European Union law”.
In 2020, the ECJ stated that Hungary had failed to follow EU legislation by not granting protection to asylum seekers or implementing measures on the return of people who stayed illegally.
The court stated that Hungary had not taken the necessary measures to comply and thus would impose financial penalties.
On X, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán labelled the decision as “outrageous and unacceptable”.
“It seems that illegal immigrants are more important to Brussels bureaucrats than their European citizens,” he said.
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
According to the ECJ, Hungary broke the relevant laws on several occasions by making it difficult for migrants to access international protection procedures, keeping asylum seekers in transit zones illegally and incorrectly returning illegal arrivals.
Hungary and the EU have a history of disagreements over how to handle migration.
For instance, on June 12 Hungary abstained from negotiations about the EU Talent pool.
The European Commission’s proposal for an EU Talent Pool is intended to enhance the recruitment and mobility of skilled jobseekers from third countries within the EU.
“Given the current security challenges and changes in society caused by migration, we do not believe that action at EU level to facilitate the inflow of third-country nationals is justified,” Budapest said.
“We intend to address labour market problems at national level and third-country workers are considered as a temporary and not a long-term solution,” the government added.
Orbán also has regularly expressed his disagreement with the bloc’s Migration Pact.
The decision to move forward with the Migrant Pact is being poorly received by Hungary and Poland. https://t.co/89TstVnBj1
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) October 6, 2023
