European divisions over migration brutally exposed by EU court judgment on refugee quotas

Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban
Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban Credit: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP

European Union divisions over migration were brutally laid bare today after the EU’s top court ruled that member states would be forced to accept thousands of asylum seekers under a compulsory quota system.

“Politics has raped European law and values,” Peter Szijjarto, Hungary’s foreign minister, told a news conference. “The Hungarian government considers today’s decision by the European court to be appalling and irresponsible.”

The European Court of Justice dismissed Hungary and Slovakia’s legal challenge to the quota system, which was devised at the height of the migration crisis two years ago to relocate thousands of refugees in under-pressure Greece and Italy across the EU. Thanks to its opt-out on EU asylum policy, Britain is exempt from the scheme.

Hungary and Slovakia, with the support of other eastern member states, went to the court to block the EU decision to relocate 120,000 Syrian and other asylum seekers.  Hungary, which faced international criticism after erecting controversial fences on its border with Serbia and Croatia, has refused to take in a single asylum seeker under the scheme.

Beata Szydlo, the Polish prime minister, who, like Hungary’s Viktor Orban, is a steadfast opponent of the quota plan said: “We expected this decision. However, this does not change the position of the Polish government on migration policy.”

 Italian border police officers escort sub Saharan men on their way to a relocation center, after arriving in the Golfo Azzurro rescue vessel at the port of Augusta, in Sicily, Italy
 Italian border police officers escort sub Saharan men on their way to a relocation center, after arriving in the Golfo Azzurro rescue vessel at the port of Augusta, in Sicily, Italy Credit: AP

Peter Susko, a Slovakian foreign affairs spokesman, told The Telegraph that Slovakia respected the court’s decision but maintained the quota policy was flawed.

“We retain the opinion, however, that the so-called relocation compulsory quotas failed to work in real life as proven by only about 16 per cent of the original number of migrants relocated so far,” he said.

The EU’s Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos was asked if the compulsory quotas could be replaced with voluntary ones.

“It is mandatory my dear friend,” he told one reporter before adding that accepting the refugees was the right thing to do legally and morally.  

“Member states should show solidarity now becuase it is clear that some member states need solidarity now,” he told a press conference in Brussels after the ECJ decision was announced.

Mr Avramopoulos, who is Greek, warned that if Hungary and other countries continued to refuse to accept refugees, they would be referred to the European Court of Justice for breaches of EU law. Such cases can result in large, daily fines.

Since its introduction in September 2015, the quota system has fallen short of reaching its 120,000 target. So far only 25,000 refugees have been moved.

The quota system was backed by a majority of EU leaders sitting in the European Council in 2015 but Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania opposed the plan, arguing they were not equipped to integrate people from mainly Muslim countries.

EU judges ruled that even those countries that voted against the plan were bound by law to implement the quota scheme.

Poland initially supported the mandatory quotas but its new right-wing government, is against it and intervened in the court battle on Hungary and Slovakia’s behalf.

The European Commission, Greece, Italy, Germany, Sweden and several other EU countries backed the plan in court.

Asylum seekers wait outside a train station in Budapest, Hungary, August 28, 2015
Asylum seekers wait outside a train station in Budapest, Hungary, August 28, 2015 Credit:  REUTERS

Hungary’s defeat is the latest twist in an increasingly testy relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, which slapped Hungary with a lawsuit for ignoring the quota system.

Mr Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, earned himself a scolding from Mr Juncker after he demanded EU cash for border security to keep out migrants.

In a letter this week, Mr Juncker told Mr Orbán that solidarity was “a two-way street” and itemised all the EU cash Budapest was offered to help deal with migration.

Mr Orbán called a controversial referendum on the quota system in October last year.  Although the turnout was so low that the result was declared invalid,  98 per cent of those who did vote rejected the system.

The  quota scheme was planned as an exception to the “Dublin” rules that mean migrants must apply for asylum in the first EU member state they arrive.

Commissioner Avramopoulos said that once the quotas had been filled the scheme would not be renewed. 

Migration flows have decreased since the height of the crisis. This is in part because of a deal the EU signed with Ankara to send back migrants in return for billions of euros in aid and for taking asylum seekers directly from refugee camps in Turkey.

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