Hungary reveals plan to send asylum-seekers to Brussels – POLITICO

The minister outlined the idea in response to a €200 million fine issued against Hungary in June after the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled Budapest was ignoring EU asylum laws as well as an earlier judgment against it.

Hungary, ruled for years by Orbán’s right-wing Fidesz party, has long taken a hard line on asylum-seekers entering the country.

The Luxembourg court ruled in 2020 that Budapest failed to comply with the EU’s rules on the treatment of migrants by “unlawfully detaining” asylum-seekers and deporting them before they could appeal the rejection of their applications.

The court ordered Hungary to change its policies, but Orbán’s government ignored the directive, a response the ECJ slammed in its June ruling as an “unprecedented and exceptionally serious breach of EU law.”

In addition to the €200 million fine, Hungary must pay an additional €1 million for each day it fails to comply with the court’s ruling.

Budapest is now examining whether it can recover some of these costs from the European Commission by filing a lawsuit.