Good morning.
Two years ago, the EU court slapped Budapest with a €200m fine for failing to implement an asylum law, in a case that stems back to 2020 when Hungary was already faulted by the court for forcing people back to Serbia.
The bill came with a daily €1m fine, which Hungary's ousted prime minister Viktor Orbán refused to pay.
Now totalling some €600m, the sum has landed on Hungary's incoming prime minister Peter Magyar's lap and at time when the country's economy is a struggling.
It is but one of many bristling problems Magyar will have to face, as he attempts to dismantle over decade of toxic Orbánism while clawing back some €17bn in lost EU funds.
"Without these funds, it will not be possible to kickstart the Hungarian economy," said Magyar, who takes over as PM next month.
Earlier this week after a technical meeting with an envoy of EU officials, he had also suggested a suspension of the daily fine.
When pressed to comment, the European Commission said the fine would be lifted once Hungary implements the required rules.
"It is up to the Hungarian government to abide by this ruling and once that is done, the issue is solved," said commission spokesperson Paula Pinho.
It is not immediately clear if Magyar intends to abide by the ruling.
He also opposes the incoming EU asylum and migration rules, echoing Polish prime minister Donald Tusk’s refusal to accept asylum seekers who arrive in other member states.
This comes despite that the number of people to be relocated is a fraction of what the European Commission had initially intended.
EU member states pledged to take in just 9,000 people last December, and even that figure came with a significant caveat: it may include other forms of support, raising questions about how many commitments translate into actual relocations.
Germany accounted for the largest share, pledging 4,555 places. However, none of these involve relocations.
Instead, the commitment reflects Berlin’s agreement to process asylum claims for individuals who initially arrived in Greece or Italy but subsequently made their way to Germany.
Even so, the commission is unlikely to pick a new fight with Magyar in the hopes of currying good will with the new government in Budapest.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen did it with Tusk after he become Poland's prime minister in 2023.
When he told her Poland had no intention of implementing the pact, she praised the country for hosting a large number Ukrainian refugees, cited hybrid threats from Belarus, and the neeed for more EU funding to shore up the borders.
But crucially, she made no mention of the pact. Nor did she correct Tusk’s assumption that the country would be forced to relocate asylum seekers.
Nikolaj Nielsen – home affairs editor
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