European Court: Hungary is taking a lot of measures against asylum seekers

Once again, the European Court of Justice is punishing Hungary for the way it has treated asylum seekers. On Tuesday, the Luxembourg court ruled that the Hungarian law declaring asylum applications inadmissible when petitioners arrive in Hungary via another safe country. Contrary to European conventions. Asylum-seekers may not be returned to that other country without a procedure. Only the European directive sets out the grounds on which migrants can be exempted from the asylum procedure, according to the court.

Hungary is also violating European law by criminalizing assisting people with such asylum claims. Hungary deters asylum lawyers and NGOs from assisting migrants by threatening imprisonment. Hungary introduced several laws to remove refugees during and after the migration crisis in 2015. It also built a fence on the border with Serbia and the country created a buffer zone from which people were returned.

Bolin door bounce

Tuesday’s ruling aligns with previous court rulings and the European Commission’s criticism of Hungary’s immigration policy, but it comes at a hot moment as the Polish government is now pushing large numbers of migrants across the border into Belarus without their asylum claims. taken into account. About this so-calledbodice Did the commission say? and that they “should never become legal,” but the commission did not condemn them severely. Nor has the Commission threatened to bring Poland to the European Court over the returns so far.

With regard to Hungary, the strict line is maintained in Brussels. On Friday, the European Commission asked the court To impose a fine on the government of Viktor Orban to ignore a previous ruling. At the end of last year, the court condemned the pushbacks by Hungary, but the country has not changed its legislation since then. UNHCR still wants to impose this with a fine.

Hungary counter

Meanwhile, the Hungarian government has taken the journey forward and – like Poland – has deployed its Constitutional Court to undermine European rulings. The Constitutional Court in Warsaw, who was politically kidnapped, last month stated this Polish laws take precedence over European law The government may therefore ignore data from Luxembourg. Poland has received two fines from the European Court, but refuses to pay them.

Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga called on the Budapest Political Court in February to end the European response ruling because it “affects Hungarian sovereignty”. On Monday, the Hungarian Constitutional Court held its first hearing on the case. When Hungary and Poland joined the European Union in 2004, they accepted that European law took precedence over national law. However, conservative nationalist governments in both countries are trying to escape from this in different ways.

Read also This analysis on the European Union and the migration crisis