Wednesday

29th Mar 2023

EU court overrules Hungary and Slovakia on migrants

  • Hungary and Slovakia rejected the EU's decision to distribute migrants across member states (Photo: plan-international.org)

The EU's top court has ruled that the union's migrant relocation quotas were legal, dismissing a challenge by Hungary and Slovakia.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said on Wednesday (6 September) that an EU Council decision in September 2015 that imposed the quota system was valid.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

EU interior ministers at the time voted to share 120,000 asylum seekers from frontline states Greece and Italy.

They were to be distributed according to Commission calculations based on member states' size and wealth, with Hungary obliged to take 1,294 people and Slovakia to take 902.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia voted against the scheme. Poland later joined the rebels after a change of government in Warsaw.

Hungary and Slovakia also launched legal action at the ECJ in December 2015.

They said the interior ministers' vote was contrary to an earlier EU summit commitment.

They also said that the Council should have tabled a new proposal after Hungary had boycotted an initial one and that the European Parliament should have been consulted.

Some diplomats from the rebel EU countries still refer to the quota vote as an "original sin" that broke trust between the Commission and eastern and central European governments.

The Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, called the migrant quota system "politically dead" last year.

Wednesday's court decision is likely to aggravate an already difficult debate.

Leading EU countries, including France and Germany, have accused the quota rebels of showing lack of EU solidarity.

But right-wing governments in Hungary and Poland have accused the EU of violating their sovereignty and of creating a terrorist risk by trying to force them to take in Muslims.

The Commission launched legal action against Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia in June for their boycott of the quota scheme.

Those cases could also end up in the ECJ, leading to potential fines, with Wednesday's court verdict stregthening the Commission's hand.

Hungary and Poland had not taken any migrants from Italy or Greece as of 1 September.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia had taken in just 28 people in total over the past two years.

The legal disputes come as member states continue debating the reform of the EU's asylum system, including the relocation of asylum seekers, in case there is another mass-scale influx of people as in 2015, when more than 1 million came to Europe seeking help.

Agenda

EU court to rule on migrant quotas This Week

A court ruling on migrant relocations will spotlight on one of the EU bloc's most divisive issues this week. The North Korea crisis will also pose a test for EU foreign policy.

Opinion

Migrant relocation ruling raises questions

The recent EU court decision to refute Hungary and Slovakia's objections to the EU relocation scheme raises a number of important questions.

Latest News

  1. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans
  2. New measures to shield the EU against money laundering
  3. What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking
  4. Dear EU, the science is clear: burning wood for energy is bad
  5. Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity
  6. Finnish elections and Hungary's Nato vote in focus This WEEK
  7. EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict
  8. Okay, alright, AI might be useful after all

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us