Brussels has decided to play hardball with Hungary over the €200 million fine imposed by the European Court of Justice over the country’s asylum system.
After Hungary did not pay the requested sum in August, a commission spokesman said in early September, “There is no wiggle room here. We have to follow the applicable procedures.” The Commission set a new deadline for September 17th. When Hungary still did not pay the fine, the Commission today said it would simply subtract the amount of the fine from Hungary’s share of the EU budget.
“We’re moving to the ‘offsetting’ phase as of today,” a Commission spokesperson told Euronews on Wednesday. “In theory, any payments can be looked at, nothing is excluded, but obviously this will take a bit of time, we need to identify what’s coming up and identify payments that can absorb the fine concerned.”
The conflict centers on the Hungarian conservative government’s tough stance on migration. Hungary has successfully protected its border—also the external border of the European Union—from illegal immigration. Because of that, in June, the European Court of Justice issued the €200 million fine, for allegedly violating EU asylum rules.
In addition, the court fined Hungary an additional €1 million per day for every day the country does not implement the EU’s required standards. That fine has now added up to €93 million and has a 45-day deadline.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called the fine “outrageous and unacceptable” and said on X that illegal migrants seemed more important to Brussels than European citizens.
To drive home the point, the Hungarian government has threatened to allow illegal immigrants to cross into the country—to be put on buses for a one-way trip to Brussels, free of charge.
Last week, Gergely Gulyás, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, also said the country is prepared to file a lawsuit against the European Commission for the Commission’s failure to pay for costs related to protecting Hungary’s southern border.
Brussels already owes Hungary €22 billion in EU funds which it has frozen due to alleged rule-of-law violations. In reality, the Budapest government is being punished for its tough stance on migration, its refusal to send weapons to Ukraine, its anti-globalist, sovereigntist approach, and its rejection of gender ideology.
“We should not be punished but our achievements should be recognised and money should not be taken away from us but given to us so that we can continue this work,” Orbán said in a recent radio interview. “It is a matter of time.”
