Hungary was fined €200 million for violating EU asylum rules

The European Court fined Hungary €200 million for violating EU asylum laws and ignoring a previous court order.

This was reported by the EU Court and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

The Prime Minister of Hungary considers the court verdict "outrageous and unacceptable", accusing "Brussels bureaucrats" of the fact that illegal migrants are more important to them than European citizens.

Back in December 2020, a Luxembourg court ruled for the first time that Hungary had failed to comply with EU rules on the treatment of migrants, as Budapest illegally detained asylum seekers and deported them before they could appeal the rejection of their applications.

After the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the country passed a law requiring international protection seekers to travel to Belgrade or Kyiv to apply for a permit to enter Hungary. This could only be done once.

Then the court obliged Hungary to rectify the situation.

Hungary ignored the courtʼs ruling, and the EU court called it a "deliberate evasion of the application of common EU policies" and added that Budapestʼs inaction "is an unprecedented and extremely serious violation of EU law."

In addition to the €200 million fine, Hungary will also be fined €1 million for each day it fails to comply with the court order. If Budapest refuses to pay the fine, its amount is deducted from the share of the EU budget for Hungary.