The European Union launched a process to withdraw hundreds of millions of euros in funds meant for Hungary after its government refused to pay a fine for violating the bloc’s asylum rules, AP News reported.
In June, the EU court ordered Hungary to pay 200 million euros ($223 million) for permanently denying migrants the right to apply for asylum. The court also imposed an additional fine of 1 million euros for each day of non-compliance.
The European Court of Justice characterised Hungary’s actions as ‘an unprecedented and extremely serious infringement of EU law.’ In turn, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán criticised its decision as “outrageous and unacceptable.”
The European Commission said Brussels was “moving towards what we call the off-setting procedure,” according to commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari.
So, what we are going to do now is to deduct the 200 million euro from upcoming payments from the EU budget towards Hungary.
Ujvari stated that the commission had also sent the first request for payment of daily fines totalling 93 million euros ($103 million) so far.
Counting from receipt, the Hungarian authorities will have 45 days to make that payment.
Previously, Budapest promised to send asylum seekers directly to Brussels on free buses.
In 2020, the European Court of Justice found that Hungary had restricted access to international protection, unlawfully detained asylum seekers and failed to respect their right to stay while processing their applications. Transit zones were closed in 2020, shortly after the judgement.
After the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020, the government also implemented a law forcing asylum seekers to travel to Belgrade or Kyiv to obtain exit permits from Hungarian embassies before entering the country. Only after returning could they submit their applications.
