Hungary declines to pay EU fines for asylum rule violations

• The court also imposed an additional fine of 1 million euros for each day Hungary failed to comply.
• The EU will withdraw the money from common funds that would otherwise be allocated to Budapest.
• The commission has issued an initial payment request for the daily fines.

On Wednesday, the European Union initiated the process of reclaiming hundreds of millions of euros intended for Hungary, following the country’s refusal to pay a substantial fine for violating the bloc’s asylum rules. In June, the EU’s top court directed Hungary to pay 200 million euros ($223 million) for repeatedly denying migrants their right to apply for asylum. The court also imposed an additional fine of 1 million euros for each day Hungary failed to comply.

The European Court of Justice described Hungary’s actions as “an unprecedented and extremely serious infringement of EU law.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán slammed its ruling as “outrageous and unacceptable.”

The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, announced that due to Hungary’s failure to pay or communicate its intentions, Brussels is initiating the “offsetting procedure.” This means the EU will withdraw the money from common funds that would otherwise be allocated to Budapest.

“So, what we are going to do now is to deduct the 200 million euro from upcoming payments from the EU budget toward Hungary,” commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said. He said it would take time to identify which parts of Hungary’s funding could be deducted.

Ujvari stated that the commission has also issued an initial payment request for the daily fines, totaling 93 million euros ($103 million) to date. He explained that Hungarian authorities will have 45 days from receipt of the request to make the payment. Since more than 1 million people arrived in Europe in 2015, many fleeing conflict in Syria, Hungary’s strongly nationalist government has adopted a tough stance on people entering the country.

The case against Hungary centered on changes it made to its asylum system following the crisis, during which around 400,000 people passed through Hungary on their way to Western Europe. In response, the Budapest government ordered the construction of fences with razor wire along its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia. Additionally, it established two transit zones for holding asylum seekers at its border with Serbia. Those transit zones have since been closed.

In 2020, the ECJ determined that Hungary had restricted access to international protection, unlawfully detained asylum applicants, and failed to uphold their right to remain while their applications were processed. Following this ruling, Hungary closed the transit zones later that same year.

However, the commission, which monitors compliance with EU laws among the 27 member states, determined that Budapest had still not complied and requested that the ECJ impose a fine.

After the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020, the government enacted a law requiring asylum seekers to travel to Belgrade or Kyiv to apply for a travel permit at Hungarian embassies before entering the country. They could only file their asylum applications once they returned to Hungary.

People have the right to apply for asylum or other forms of international protection if they fear for their safety in their home countries or face persecution based on race, religion, ethnic background, gender, or other forms of discrimination.

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