Hungary Calls on EU to Rework Asylum Pact or Risk Its Collapse

(Bloomberg) -- One of the European Union’s strongest anti-immigration governments is warning that the bloc’s asylum policy is nearing a breaking point as opposition grows in other member states.

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Barring an overhaul of common rules “we risk the collapse of the whole asylum and migration framework that we have in the European Union,” Hungary’s European affairs minister, Janos Boka told Bloomberg Television in an interview in Brussels on Tuesday ahead a meeting with fellow ministers.

While Hungary has been one of the most anti-immigrant EU nations under nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the message is now resonating across the continent as people blame economic woes and crime on migrants.

This month, Germany re-imposed temporary border checks, Denmark called for tightening EU migration rules while the Netherlands has asked for an opt-out from them entirely.

Hungary is joining the Dutch government in asking for an opt-out, Boka said. The European Commission has already said member states can’t withdraw because the asylum law is binding.

The asylum pact, approved earlier this year, was aimed at supporting a common system to manage arrivals to the bloc that would speed up asylum, return and border procedures while ensuring shared responsibility among member states to aid those experiencing a critical inflow of migrants.

Hungary is already flouting the law after years of refusing to process asylum claims. The EU’s top court in June ordered Hungary to pay a €200 million ($222 million) fine for non-compliance, as well as a $1 million additional daily penalty until Budapest aligns its rules and practices with EU norms.

Hungary started talks with the EU’s executive arms about the penalty after the government failed to meet its deadline last week for the lump-sum payment, Boka said. The EU plans to deduct the money from its next payments due to the government.

The bloc continues to withhold some €20 billion of financing from Hungary over concerns about the erosion of the rule of law and graft.

--With assistance from Andras Gergely.

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