Hungary mulls sending migrants to Brussels to avenge EU fine
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Gergely Gulyas, the minister overseeing the prime minister’s office, has announced that" if Brussels wants to take in migrants, we can help."
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Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers his annual "State of Hungary" speech in Budapest, Hungary, on February 17, 2024. (AP)
Hungary has proposed the possibility of sending migrants arriving at its border directly to Brussels if it cannot resolve its conflict with the European Union over penalties related to its asylum policies.
The European Court of Justice has imposed a €200 million fine on Hungary, with an additional daily penalty of €1 million, due to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s alleged failure to comply with previous court rulings on asylum seeker protection. Orban had already indicated potential retaliation in June, which adds to the challenges facing his upcoming EU presidency in late 2024.
Negotiations with the European Commission are set to begin in September, according to Gergely Gulyas, the minister overseeing the Prime Minister’s office. If these talks do not succeed, Hungary plans to start sending migrants on "one-way tickets to Brussels," Gulyas announced.
Gulyas explained, “We should find an agreement as soon as possible because we wouldn’t like to pay large amounts on a daily basis,” adding that "if Brussels wants to take in migrants, we can help."
Though Gulyas did not elaborate on how such a program would function, the concept is similar to disagreements between US states over migrants bused to New York from the Texas border and a potential plan by former UK PM Rishi Sunak to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Spokespeople for the commission declined to comment on Gulyas' statements.
Separately, human rights organizations chastised Hungary this week for withholding state-funded shelter from Ukrainian migrants entering from areas unaffected by the war on Russia's front lines. Following the migration, a group of Hungarians from Ukraine's western Transcarpathia area became briefly homeless, according to Gulyas, although assistance agencies helped provide housing.
According to a spokeswoman, the EU's executive arm is investigating the directive, but the EU remains unified in providing safeguards, including accommodation to individuals escaping the crisis.
Poland suggests Hungary can leave NATO, EU over Orban's remarks
Hungary may exit the European Union and NATO if it disagrees with their policies, said Wladyslaw Teofil Bartoszewski, Poland's deputy foreign minister last month. The statements came in reaction to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's harsh criticism of Warsaw's measures the day before.
Orban accused Poland of adopting "the most sanctimonious and two-faced policy in the whole of Europe," during a visit to Romania, claiming it is "obliviously doing business with the Russians" while "morally lecturing" Budapest for doing the same.
"We do not do business with Russia, unlike Prime Minister Orban, who is on the margins of international society - both in the European Union and NATO," Bartoszewski responded, as reported by PAP.
Bartoszewski stated that he did not understand why Hungary wished to remain in an organization "it doesn't like so much," adding that it always has the option to leave.
Several EU leaders attacked Orban earlier this month for defying the bloc's directives and engaging in a peace mission for the war in Ukraine during which he visited Kiev, Moscow, and China. Budapest has been exempted from EU sanctions and continues importing Russian oil and gas.
His meeting with US presidential candidate Donald Trump while serving as the rotating president of the EU likewise caused controversy among EU members.
Upon completing his visits to China and Russia, European Parliament members asked that Hungary's right to vote in EU elections be taken away.
Sources familiar with the matter told Politico that the EU's legal service informed member states that Orban's actions violated agreements that prohibit any measures "which could undermine the achievement of the Union's objectives."
