Hungary will be fined €1 million a day until it complies with EU migrant law

Hungarian government erects border fences and introduces tough policies on migrants Author: Jerome Seed/Alamy Stock Photo

European court to fine Hungary by €1 million (£845,000) every day until it stops breaking EU laws and accepting more migrants.

Hungary was guilty of an “unprecedented and extremely serious breach” of European asylum laws and deportation of illegal migrants,» the EU's top court has said.

Budapest has been handed a £169 million fine for breaching EU asylum law and warned that further daily fines will be levied until it starts follow the rules.

Viktor Orbán, Hungary's long-time anti-migrant Prime Minister, said the «outrageous and unacceptable» fines were imposed for «protecting the borders of the European Union.»

He said: «It seems that illegal migrants are more important for Brussels bureaucrats than their own European citizens.»

Viktor Orban, Hungary's longtime anti-migrant prime minister, said the fines were “outrageous and unacceptable.” Photo: Markus Schreiber/AP

Mr Orban has regularly clashed with the EU over asylum policies since the 2015 migration crisis.

More than a million Syrians have passed through Hungary during the crisis as the government erected border fences and imposed tough policies.

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Hungary's fenced southern border with Serbia remains a target for migrants hoping to reach EU territory through the Balkans. from Turkey before heading to richer countries such as Germany.

In December 2020, the European Court of Justice said Hungary had violated EU laws on asylum and the deportation of illegal migrants.

It illegally detained asylum seekers in “transit zones” between border fences, refused permission to those refused granting asylum, remaining in Hungary even if they appealed the refusal of their application, and illegally deporting some illegal migrants.

It also forced asylum seekers to travel to Kyiv or Belgrade to apply for permission to enter Hungary, rather than offering international protection at the border as required by law.

In 2017, Hungary detained applicants shelters in shipping containers in camps along the border. border with Serbia.

In 2022, Balázs Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister's influential political director, told The Telegraph that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should send migrants somewhere colder than Rwanda because he supported the plan to use small boats.

< p>He said: “The problem is that Rwanda is far away. So you should probably find an island closer, perhaps in the north, where the temperature and weather are not so favorable.»

EU solidarity is being 'undermined'

The European Commission has opened a new case against Hungary because it believed that it did not comply with the decision, with the exception of cases of transit zones.

Brussels took the rare step of demanding financial sanctions and EU judges agreed in a ruling on Thursday.

The court said Hungary's breach of the law had undermined solidarity between EU countries and shifted responsibility for migrants to other member states.

EU member The States have spent years trying to reform the bloc's migration rules.

A new policy to speed up asylum procedures calls for counties to accept migrants from «frontline states» or pay 20,000 euros for every person they turn away.

Hungary has pledged not to take in migrants from countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain, which have borne the brunt of illegal migration into the EU.

Budapest will take over the presidency on a rotating basis. EU on July 1.

He will be tasked with brokering intergovernmental agreements on policy, including the distribution of top jobs in the bloc after European elections in which far-right anti-migrant parties made big gains.< /p>