Billion fine from the EU – because they don't let in illegal immigrants

Published 14 June 2024 at 08.18

Foreign. Hungary is fined billions to the EU after introducing measures to stop illegal immigration.

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According to the European Court of Justice, Hungary must pay a lump sum of 200 million euros, corresponding to approximately SEK 2.2 billion.

But that's not enough. The country must also pay a penalty of 1 million euros (11 million kroner) for each day that the country continues to violate EU regulations. The fine will automatically be deducted from Hungary's allocated share of the EU budget.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban calls the decision “scandalous and unacceptable”.

“It seems that illegal migrants are more important to Brussels bureaucrats than their own European citizens”, he writes on X.

The background is that through various measures Hungary has succeeded in minimizing the number of illegal immigrants from the third world who come to the country to seek asylum. The asylum process has been made more difficult in various ways, including through a law that requires you to apply for asylum at the Hungarian embassy in a neighboring country. According to the European Court of Justice, it is a “clearly disproportionate intervention” in the right to asylum.

The court ruled in 2020 that Hungary, in violation of EU law, had deprived illegal immigrants of their liberty and blocked them from entering Hungary. The asylum seekers were held in a transit zone on Serbian territory, which meant they could be deported before they could appeal the rejection of their asylum application.

Despite the convictions in the European Court of Justice, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared that he will continue to pursue his policies to protect the country against the illegal immigrants.