Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic are in breach of the European Union law by refusing to take in migrants under the bloc’s mandatory migrant quota scheme, the top EU legal adviser says. According to Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston, who advises the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the members countries of the bloc have “no legitimate security grounds to reject the quota scheme” that proposes to settle hundreds of thousands migrants arriving in Europe.
The eastern European countries are facing legal action at the top EU court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), for blocking the EU plan to assign each country with a quota of migrants to take in. The Eastern European countries have so far frustrated Brussels’ efforts to impose mandatory quotas on member states for the mass resettlement of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East swarming the continent through the Mediterranean route.
Poland rejected the Advocate General’s statement citing the government’s duty to ensure the safety of its people. “Our actions were dictated by the interests of Polish citizens and the need for protection against uncontrolled migration,” Piotr Muller, spokesman for the Polish government, said.
The German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported the legal advisory given to the top EU court:
Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic broke EU law by refusing to accept asylum seekers under the bloc’s mandatory migrant quota scheme, an advisory body to the European Court of Justice said on Thursday.In December 2017, the European Commission took the three EU member states to Europe’s top court after they refused to take in refugees who arrived in Greece and Italy at the height of the 2015 migrant crisis.The former communist states had argued that accepting asylum seekers would threaten security and cultural cohesion — and that Brussels had no legal grounds to implement mandatory migration quotas.In an opinion advising the European Court of Justice, Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston said Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic had no legitimate security grounds to reject the quota scheme.
The advisories issued by the EU Advocate General are “not legally binding but are often followed by the court,” German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle noted in a separate article. An EU court ruling against these countries could pave the way for punitive fines and sanctions. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has long been calling for such actions against the countries refusing to open their borders to migrants.
The EU legal advisory comes amid fears of a new migrant wave like the one witnessed in the autumn of 2015. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned of a migrant influx that could overwhelm his country. Germany could “experience a wave of refugees like in 2015 – or perhaps an even larger one,” Seehofer said last month.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also renewed his threats of overrunning Europe with “millions” of illegal immigrants as he wages war against Kurdish fighters and civilians in northern Syria.
Amid mounting threats, Brussels has been discouraging the member states from trying to curb the migrant influx. The EU, as well as German and French governments, has criticized Hungary’s border fence constructed to stop the flow of illegal migrants. Hungary has defended the fence that stops migrants who take the Balkan route to get into Europe. British broadcaster the BBC describes the Hungarian wall as an “impenetrable border barrier of barbed wire and electric fences” designed to”stop the migrant flow.”
Despite the mainstream media and the EU politicians mocking and slandering Hungary and other eastern European countries for building border walls and taking a tough approach to illegal immigration, these countries have succeeded in quelling the uncontrolled flow of migrants.
While Germany, France, and Belgium face rising migrant crime and a string of Islamic terror attacks, the countries of eastern Europe are blissfully spared from such tragedies and pitfalls.
The punitive measures pushed by Brussels against Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic are a ploy to force other member countries of the bloc to fall in line with the EU’s open border immigration policy. As long as eastern European countries continue to resist migrant settlement plans, Brussels will not be able to roll out schemes that have the potential to irreversibly change the culture and demography of Europe.
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