This week, Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the EU. On Friday, the country declared its refusal to pay a punishment of millions of euros levied by the EU’s highest court for breaking refugee regulations.
Hungary was fined 200 million euros ($216 million) by the European Court of Justice in June and subject to a daily charge of one million euros for failing to comply with a 2020 rule requiring it to uphold international standards for asylum seekers.
“We are not planning on paying this fine because this is completely unfair,” Deputy Interior Minister Bence Retvati told journalists.
“This fine that we received was political pressure because of our approach to illegal migration,” he added.
Budapest only permits asylum applicants to apply overseas at Hungarian embassies, in violation of EU regulations.
Hungary did not grant exceptional protection to children or other vulnerable individuals, nor did it permit asylum seekers to leave jail while their claims were being reviewed, according to a December 2020 ruling by the European Court of Justice.
The court declared in June that Budapest has persisted in preventing migrants from properly requesting asylum and in denying them the right to remain while their requests are being reviewed.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is often at odds with Brussels on immigration and refugee policy. He is a fervent supporter of an alleged conspiracy to replace white Europeans with non-white immigrants.
Hungary also opposes the bloc’s recent overhaul of its laws on handling asylum-seekers and migrants.
“Don’t try to get Hungary to change our rules, because we have protected ourselves from migration,” Orban said in an interview with state television on Monday.
“Instead, they should adopt the Hungarian rules here in Brussels and other capitals, and suddenly everything would be simple,” the nationalist leader added.
The European Commission had already announced that if Budapest refused to pay, it would deduct the money from the funds earmarked for Hungary it had not yet paid out.It has frozen 19 billion euros due to other procedures.
