Hungary Threatens to Send Migrants to Brussels to Avenge EU Fine
(Bloomberg) -- Hungary suggested it might start transporting migrants who show up at its border straight to Brussels unless it can resolve a dispute with the European Union on penalties for its asylum policies.
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The European Court of Justice has slapped a €200 million ($223 million) penalty, plus an extra €1 million daily fine, on the country for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s non-compliance with the court’s earlier judgment on the protection of asylum seekers. Orban already promised retaliation in June for the ruling, one of several issues clouding the start of his stint in the rotating presidency of the EU in the second half of 2024.
Negotiations with the European Commission will start in September, Gergely Gulyas, the minister in charge of the prime minister’s office, told reporters in Budapest Thursday. Should those talks fail, Hungary will start handing migrants “one-way tickets to Brussels,” Gulyas said.
“We should find an agreement as soon as possible because we wouldn’t like to pay large amounts on a daily basis,” Gulyas said. “But if Brussels wants to take in migrants, we can help.”
Though Gulyas provided no details on how such a scheme would work, the idea echoes disputes among US states over migrants being bused to New York from the Texas border. In Europe, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed his new Labour government would scrap predecessor Rishi Sunak’s plan to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda.
Spokespeople for commission declined to comment on Gulyas’s remarks.
Separately, Hungary was criticized by human rights groups this week for withdrawing state-funded shelter from Ukrainian refugees arriving from regions not directly affected by the fighting on the frontlines with Russia. A group of Hungarians from Ukraine’s western Transcarpathia region temporarily became homeless after the move, though Gulyas said aid groups helped provide accommodations for them.
The EU’s executive arm is looking into the decree, according to a spokesperson but said the EU is united in providing protections, including accommodation, for those fleeing the conflict.
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