Brussels To Deduct $230 Million in Unpaid Asylum Fines From Hungary’s EU Funds
Hungary has refused to pay fines ordered by the European Court of Justice for depriving immigrants of their right to apply for asylum under EU rules.
The European Union started deducting hundreds of millions of euros in funds intended for Hungary after Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government declined to pay a substantial fine for violating the bloc’s asylum rules on Wednesday.
In June, the highest court in Europe instructed Budapest to pay €200 million ($223 million) for consistently denying immigrants the right to seek asylum.
Additionally, the court imposed an extra fine of one million euros for each day Hungary remained non-compliant.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) labeled Hungary’s actions as “an unprecedented and extremely serious breach of EU law.”
In response, Orbán criticized the ruling as “outrageous and unacceptable.”
The European Commission, the executive branch of the bloc, declared that due to Hungary’s failure to pay or disclose its intentions, it would proceed with the “offsetting procedure” by deducting the funds from common budgets allocated to Budapest.
“So, what we are going to do now is to deduct the €200 million from upcoming payments from the EU budget towards Hungary,” said commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari.
He noted that the identification of which sections of Hungary’s funding would face deductions would require some time.
Ujvari mentioned that the commission had also sent an initial payment request for the daily fines totaling €93 million ($103 million) up to this point.
“Upon receipt, the Hungarian authorities will have 45 days to make that payment,” he mentioned.
Since over a million individuals arrived in Europe in 2015, with many claiming to be escaping conflict in Syria, Budapest has maintained a stringent stance on those entering the country.
