Hungary Refuses to Pay Fines for Breaking EU Asylum Rules

[bèlla]

Hungary refuses to pay fines for breaking EU asylum rules. Brussels is taking the money anyway.​

The European Union on Wednesday began the process of clawing back hundreds of millions of euros in funds meant to go to Hungary after its anti-migrant government refused to pay a huge fine for breaking the bloc’s asylum rules.

In June, the EU’s top court ordered Hungary to pay 200 million euros — about $223 million — for persistently depriving migrants of their right to apply for asylum. The court imposed an additional fine of $1.1 million for every day it 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 Orban slammed the ruling as “outrageous and unacceptable.”

Hungary’s nationalist government has taken a hard line on people entering the country since well over 1 million people arrived in Europe in 2015, most of them fleeing conflict in Syria.

The case against it concerned changes Hungary made to its asylum system in the wake of that crisis, when some 400,000 people passed through Hungary on their way to Western Europe.

The government in Budapest ordered fences with razor wire to be erected on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia and a pair of transit zones for holding asylum seekers to be set up on its border with Serbia. Those transit zones have since closed.

In 2020, the European Court of Justice found that Hungary had restricted access to international protection, unlawfully detained asylum applicants, and failed to observe their right to stay while their applications were processed.

After the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the government also pushed through a law forcing asylum seekers to travel to Belgrade or Kyiv to apply for a travel permit at its embassies there before entering Hungary. Only once back could they file their applications.

 

[Vambram]

Perhaps Hungary might be better off to get out of the European Union because the EU doesn't appear to recognize the national sovereignty of Hungary?

 

[Goonie]

Perhaps Hungary might be better off to get out of the European Union because the EU doesn't appear to recognize the national sovereignty of Hungary?

Nonsense. The EU absolutely recognizes a sovereign nation signed up to respect the rules of the EU treaty, and is holding it to account as per the rule of law.

 

[Vambram]

Nonsense. The EU absolutely recognizes a sovereign nation signed up to respect the rules of the EU treaty, and is holding it to account as per the rule of law.

However you want to define it, matters not to me. But, it does look like to me that Hungary should not be part of the EU because the EU is not allowing Hungary to set laws and enforce laws for Hungarian borders.

 

[Chesterton]

Hungary’s nationalist government has taken a hard line...

I'm confused about what the word "nationalist" means here. Is this as opposed to an internationalist government?

 

[Arcangl86]

Perhaps Hungary might be better off to get out of the European Union because the EU doesn't appear to recognize the national sovereignty of Hungary?

Hungary signed onto the treaties of the European Union and that comes with acknowledging EU authority in certain areas, including immigration. They chose not to follow the rules and thus some of the benefits of being in the EU are being withheld from them.

 

[bèlla]

I'm confused about what the word "nationalist" means here. Is this as opposed to an internationalist government?

I don't know if that's the case completely. They've opposed the EU on asylum, Russia, and LGBTQ.

~bella

 

[rambot]

However you want to define it, matters not to me. But, it does look like to me that Hungary should not be part of the EU because the EU is not allowing Hungary to set laws and enforce laws for Hungarian borders.

Hmmm...I wonder why Hungary may not be interested in leaving the eu.....

 

[Vambram]

Hmmm...I wonder why Hungary may not be interested in leaving the eu.....

Hungary joined NATO in 1999. But, if being part of the EU has become a negative for Hungary, then maybe they would better off by leaving the EU?

 

[rambot]

Hungary joined NATO in 1999. But, if being part of the EU has become a negative for Hungary, then maybe they would better off by leaving the EU?

And you think Hungary has not benefited feom being part of rhe eu or nato?

 

[Arcangl86]

Hungary joined NATO in 1999. But, if being part of the EU has become a negative for Hungary, then maybe they would better off by leaving the EU?

The question is of course, do the benefits of being part of the EU outweigh the burdens? The only country to leave the EU was the UK, one of the more economically advanced countries in the world, and even they took a hit to their economy. I suspect Hungary would be hit even harder.

 

[Vambram]

The question is of course, do the benefits of being part of the EU outweigh the burdens? The only country to leave the EU was the UK, one of the more economically advanced countries in the world, and even they took a hit to their economy. I suspect Hungary would be hit even harder.

I don't have the answer to that question. But, you could be right that Hungary's economy would be hit even harder than the UK's was after Britain left the EU.

 

[bèlla]

Hungary said no but America did not. There may be more happening behind the scenes than we're aware of that forced our compliance and others too.

~bella

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Hungary refuses to pay fines for breaking EU asylum rules. Brussels is taking the money anyway.​

The European Union on Wednesday began the process of clawing back hundreds of millions of euros in funds meant to go to Hungary after its anti-migrant government refused to pay a huge fine for breaking the bloc’s asylum rules.

In June, the EU’s top court ordered Hungary to pay 200 million euros — about $223 million — for persistently depriving migrants of their right to apply for asylum. The court imposed an additional fine of $1.1 million for every day it 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 Orban slammed the ruling as “outrageous and unacceptable.”

Hungary’s nationalist government has taken a hard line on people entering the country since well over 1 million people arrived in Europe in 2015, most of them fleeing conflict in Syria.

The case against it concerned changes Hungary made to its asylum system in the wake of that crisis, when some 400,000 people passed through Hungary on their way to Western Europe.

The government in Budapest ordered fences with razor wire to be erected on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia and a pair of transit zones for holding asylum seekers to be set up on its border with Serbia. Those transit zones have since closed.

In 2020, the European Court of Justice found that Hungary had restricted access to international protection, unlawfully detained asylum applicants, and failed to observe their right to stay while their applications were processed.

After the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the government also pushed through a law forcing asylum seekers to travel to Belgrade or Kyiv to apply for a travel permit at its embassies there before entering Hungary. Only once back could they file their applications.

From the Authoritarian playbook:
-To promote xenophobic and nationalist views, demonizing immigrants as threats to their nation's culture and identity.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

Perhaps Hungary might be better off to get out of the European Union because the EU doesn't appear to recognize the national sovereignty of Hungary?

Or, if Brussels is that upset about Hungary's immigration policy, why hasn't Hungary been expelled from the EU?

 

[Arcangl86]

Or, if Brussels is that upset about Hungary's immigration policy, why hasn't Hungary been expelled from the EU?

There is no way to expel a nation from the EU.

 

[rambot]

Or, if Brussels is that upset about Hungary's immigration policy, why hasn't Hungary been expelled from the EU?

Seems like an overreaction if the current consequence is a fine.
Why not just pay the fine? Well it doesn't matter, the EU will get their money by affecting transfer payments (if I'm understanding the article right).

 

[7thKeeper]

I don't have the answer to that question. But, you could be right that Hungary's economy would be hit even harder than the UK's was after Britain left the EU.

Not could be right, would be right. At least in 2021 they were the third biggest beneficiary with somewhat over 4 billion € from the EU. Britain was a net contributer while it was in the EU from what I remember.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

It sounds like it's Hungary's own fault for getting involved and accepting EU funds in the first place.

When countries accept a measure of austerity from other countries (or a collective of other countries), you become beholden to some of their expectations and demands, and sometimes that involves other nations' governments demanding things your own people aren't going to like.

That why national leaders need to think very carefully about what their priorities are, and what level of control they're willing to give before signing onto some of these international organizations.

Greece had a similar situation of citizen backlash after they received money from EU nations (3 times) in the form of austerity measures, and in exchange, those EU nations demanded that they change some of their working-hours expectations, public benefits, and pension policies.

If keeping a 32 hour work week and paying for people to retire at age 52 was something that was a priority for them, they should've brainstormed a way to make it work domestically without accepting money from other countries.


In Hungary's case, I can understand their frustrations with the asylum rules...the EU was basically saying "you have to onboard this culture clash because we said so, regardless of negative impacts"



...but this should be a lesson. There's no such thing as "free money". When you receive money that wasn't the result of your own efforts, there's almost always going to be strings attached.

Or perhaps a better analogy, joining the EU (or any other similar organization for which you aren't the "big dog on the block"), is sort of like deciding to buy a house in an HOA where you're not the HOA president, someone's going to be telling you what to do with your money and property and you're going to have to suck it up and take it if you were naive enough to sign on the dotted line because you only saw benefit and discounted the fact that there could be a downside.

In this instance, Hungary joined the "HOA", and the cranky 63 year old busy-body HOA president who likes to come by and tell you that your mailbox is the wrong color (Brussels) is fining them.