The European Court of Justice imposes a big fine on Hungary

HUNGARY - In Brief 13 Jun 2024 by Istvan Racz

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The ECJ announced earlier today a €200 million fine on Hungary, for failing to fully comply with its decision of December 2020 on how the country should change its asylum system, plus a €1 million fine for each day of further delay in complying with that ruling. The said decision was that Hungary's procedures to treat asylum seekers showing up at the country's borders (the borders with Serbia and Ukraine, Hungary's two neighbours that are not members of the EU) were too restrictive and inhumane, conflicting with a common EU policy. Since that judgement was issued, Hungary complied with the ECJ ruling in one respect, but it failed to do so in respect of granting access to entry for asylum-seekers and of its deportation procedures. As a result, the EU Commission returned to the Court, asking it to set fines for Hungary in a very much smaller amount than the fine which was eventually imposed. PM Orbán and cabinet minister Gulyás received the court decision with outrage: in their view, Hungary actually protects the rest of the EU from the influx of illegal migrants, and for this the country would deserve some financial contribution from the EU to the costs of its border control activities, rather than a fine. Mr. Gulyás also said that it was a cowardly decision from the Court to wait with the announcement until after the European election last week. Asked by the press at his regular weekly public appearance today, Mr. Gulyás said the government have not decided yet how it would react to the court's judgement, but he indicated that there are a number of possible avenues for further action. We think the government will quite obviously appeal the decision (last year, a simila...