Image 01 Image 03

Hungary Tag

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.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has vowed to “use force” to protect the country’s borders after Turkey threatened to unleash a wave of immigrants into Europe, French TV network Euronews reported. The statement came after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's threatened to “open the gates and send 3.6 million” migrants over to Europe.

The European Union is taking Hungary to court over the country's immigration law, German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported. The legal action by Brussels seeks to repeal a law passed last year by Hungary's parliament aimed at securing the country's borders and combating illegal trafficking of migrants. The case will he heard by the top EU court, the European Court of Justice.

The European Union parliament has overwhelmingly voted to censure Hungary over alleged "breaches of the EU's core values." The vote triggered the "Article 7" procedure of the EU constitution, paving the wave for economic sanctions and other punishing measures. The EU parliamentarians voted 448 to 197 in support of a resolution that accused "Hungary of threatening the rule of law by hampering press and academic freedoms, cracking down on NGO funding and denying rights to minorities and migrants," European media reports said. Parliamentarians cheered and applauded at the read out of the vote. It is the first time the punitive article has been triggered by parliament against an EU member.

Hungary has decided to quit the United Nations migration pact ahead of its final approval. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto slammed the UN-backed accord as a “threat to the world” and “entirely against” his country's national interests. “This document is entirely against Hungary’s security interests,” he said. “This pact poses a threat to the world from the aspect that it could inspire millions [of illegal migrants].”

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's landslide victory in Hungary's general election has rattled the European political establishment. The three-time Prime Minister secured almost half of the vote and a two-thirds majority in the national parliament. "Dear friends, there's a big battle behind us, we secured a historic victory—we got a chance, we created a chance for us to defend Hungary," Prime Minister Orban told his supporters on Sunday night.

Following an EU court decision ordering some eastern European countries to accept the migrant quotas, Hungary and Poland have vowed to fight on against the large-scale resettlement plan being pushed by the EU. The top EU court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), ruled yesterday that all member states must take in a share of refugees who cross over into Europe. The EU court's ruling "jeopardizes the security and future of all of Europe," said Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

EU’s highest court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), may be set to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Hungary and Slovakia to challenge the EU’s migrant quota scheme, European media reports suggest.

The Advocate General for the European Court of Justice, Yves Bot, who is advising the judges on the case, proposed to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Hungary and Slovakia. His recommendations are not binding, but the top EU court usually follows the opinion presented by the advocate general. Earlier this year, Hungary and Slovakia approached the top EU court to challenge the Brussels’ decision to impose a continent-wide migrant relocation scheme. “Europe's top court looks set to throw out Eastern European objections to enforced migrant quotas,” reported the UK’s Daily Express. “EU strikes double blow against Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic over refugee quotas,” wrote the London-based Financial Times.

The governments of Hungary and Slovakia have filed a case against the EU's refugee distribution plan. "Hungary and Slovakia have accused the EU of negligence and violations with regard to its decision to distribute up to 120,000 refugees across Europe," German newspaper Die Welt reported. Defending his government’s decision to challenge the EU's migrant policy in the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Hungary's Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi told Die Welt, "We have compiled a ten-point list of reasons we believe this decision to be illegal." Minister Trocsanyi criticised EU's plans of redistributing migrants for incentivising illegal immigration. The EU was telling migrants to "go ahead and come to Europe, and we will handle the distribution," Trocsanyi said.