Hungary’s Deputy Interior Minister, Bence Rétvári, has announced that his government will send asylum seekers who have entered the country to Brussels, in an escalation of the country clash with the European Union after it levied heavy fines against the country for its decisions on processing those claiming international protection.
Viktor Orbán’s government passed a law in 2020 which obliged migrants to first apply for protection at embassies outside the country’s borders.
But in June, the European Court of Justice fined Hungary €200 million , saying it was breaking the EU’s asylum laws and ignoring earlier judgments by the EU Court made in 2020 which found Hungary had deporting migrants before their appeal of an asylum rejection could be heard.
Orbán tweeted at the time that the “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,” he added. On top of the €200 million fine, the ECJ said, Hungary will be fined an additional €1 million per day that it failed to comply with the court’s judgment.
At a news conference today in the capital Budapest, Rétvári hit out at the EU, saying it wanted to force Hungary to allow “illegal migrants” across its borders.
“If the European Union forces Hungary to admit illegal migrants, Hungary will offer free transport to Brussels after completing the EU legal procedures,” Rétvári said during a press conference.
He claimed that Hungary’s actions to secure its southern border was also providing protection to the EU’s external borders.
“Since 2015, Hungarian police and border patrols have prevented one million illegal border crossing attempts. Despite this, the European Court of Justice has imposed an “unjust and gigantic” fine on Hungary, pressuring the country to change its migration policy,” Zoltan Kovacs, State Secretary for International Communication, said.
He said Mr. Rétvári was acting “in response to EU pressure” and that he reiterated Hungary’s stance, stating that if forced to allow migrants, Hungary would transport them to Brussels.
“He responded to the Brussels mayor’s concerns that such a move would disrupt daily life there, by pointing out that Hungary secures its borders to avoid similar disruptions for its own citizens. He criticized the EU for attacking rather than compensating Hungary for its border protection efforts,” Kocavs said.
🚨 If the European Union forces Hungary to admit illegal migrants, Hungary will offer free transport to Brussels after completing the EU legal procedures – declared Parliamentary State Secretary Bence Rétvári during a press conference. He emphasized that Hungary, by securing its… pic.twitter.com/tukcZ8qS3n
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) September 6, 2024
Mr Rétvári held his press conference against a backdrop of a row of passenger buses with illuminated signs reading “Roszke-Brussels” – a route that would take migrants from Hungary’s southern border with Serbia to the EU headquarters in Belgium.
“If Brussels wants illegal migrants, Brussels can have them,” Mr. Rétvári said.
The Hungarian government has said it will file legal proceedings against the EU over the fines – and has also demanded compensation for the billions of euro it says it has been forced to spend on border protection including the construction of fences on its southern borders.
Minister Rétvári previously said that Brussels could impose whatever fine it liked but that the Hungarian government “would not bend to its open borders agenda”, Remix reported.
🇭🇺🇪🇺 'Have you seen what's happening in England? We don't want that here!'
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) August 14, 2024
Hungary's Deputy Interior Minister Bence Rétvári says Brussels can impose whatever fine it likes, the Hungarian government won't bend to its open borders agenda.
He says "Hungarian people can still go… pic.twitter.com/aI3X1nQcum
The Socialist mayor of Brussels. Philippe Close previously wrote to the Hungarian cabinet saying it was “ignoring the interests of others” in its attitude to giving migrants a one-way ticket to the city. y:
“It is irresponsible to gamble with the lives of people in trouble at the expense of the people of Brussels”, he argued.
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