The Supreme Court of the European Union ruled that Hungary violated EU laws and migrantsʼ rights to asylum by requiring them to start the process of obtaining it at the Hungarian embassies in Serbia and Ukraine, the Associated Press reports.
Since more than a million people, most of them refugees from Syria, arrived in the EU in 2015, Hungary has erected border fences and forcibly prevented people from entering.
After the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the country passed a law that obliges those seeking international protection to travel to Belgrade or Kyiv to apply for permission to enter Hungary. This could only be done once.
Because of this, the European Commission referred Budapest to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), insisting that the country has not fulfilled its obligations dictated by EU rules. The rules require all bloc member countries to have common asylum procedures.
The Supreme Court stated that such actions of Hungary are not justified by the goal of public health protection, and, in particular, by the fight against the spread of the coronavirus — this idea was promoted by the Hungarian authorities.
If the Hungarian government does not change its laws after the courtʼs ruling, the European Commission may file a new lawsuit demanding that Budapest be fined.