Budapest has missed the deadline to pay a penalty for not processing refugees

The EU will withhold part of future payments to Hungary over its refusal to pay a fine for breaking the bloc’s asylum rules, European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari announced on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, the European Court of Justice ordered Budapest to pay €200 million ($222 million), along with an extra €1 million per day in fines, for depriving migrants of their right to apply for asylum in the country, in violation of EU migration legislation.

Hungary, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU until the end of the year, has said it does not intend to pay the penalty, and recently pledged to send migrants that enter its borders to Brussels by bus.

According to the European Commission spokesman, the bloc will need time to identify upcoming payments that can absorb the fine.

The spat dates back to December 2020, when the EU’s top court first ruled that Budapest had limited access to asylum procedures for those seeking refuge in the country, making the process of filing applications “virtually impossible.” At the time, the court also ruled that the Hungarian authorities were unlawfully keeping asylum seekers in “transit zones” under conditions that amounted to detention, while violating their right to appeal.

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In 2023, EU lawmakers agreed on a landmark migration pact that would see illegal immigrants, most of whom arrive in Italy and Greece after crossing the Mediterranean, transferred to other EU states on a quota basis. Under the legislation, member states that are not located along the bloc’s external border may choose either to accept refugees or pay compensation to the EU fund.

The measure was supposed to help member states to share the responsibility of hosting migrants after nations in the eastern part of the bloc were unwilling to take in those who had arrived in Greece, Italy and other countries. Back then, Hungary and Poland voted against the document, while Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic abstained.

At the time, Hungarian President Viktor Orban said Brussels had legally “raped” Hungary and Poland by forcing through a deal that would compel member states to accept quotas of illegal immigrants, vowing that he would not compromise with the EU on such an arrangement.