Hungary threatens to transport migrants to Brussels: European Commission responds

Hungarian authorities have repeatedly threatened the European Union with taking migrants to Brussels. They did so for the first time in August, shortly after the June Court of Justice of the European Union sentenced Hungary a fine of EUR 200 million and an additional EUR 1 million for each day of delay for failure to comply with a Member State's obligations regarding migration, including hindering asylum seekers' access to international protection.

The latest threats were made on Sunday, when the deputy head of the Hungarian Interior Ministry, Bence Retvari, organized a conference in Roeszke on the Serbian-Hungarian border. He announced that if European Union punishes Hungary with unprecedented fines and prevents it from defending its borders against mass immigration, the country will transport “every illegal immigrant free of charge directly to the Commission”.

During his speech, Retvari appeared in front of a fleet of yellow buses with the “Roeszke-Brussels” route on display, threatening that Hungary would transport migrants from that town straight to the capital of Europe.

The European Commission spokeswoman on Tuesday described the Hungarian authorities' statements as “unacceptable”. – If such an action were actually carried out, it would constitute a clear violation not only of European Union law, but also of the principle of fair and loyal cooperation between member states and mutual trust. It would also undermine the security of the entire Schengen Area – said Anitta Hipper.

As she added, the EC is in contact with the authorities in Budapest to ensure that the announced actions will not take place and that Hungary will withdraw its threats. – We are also in contact with Hungary's neighbouring countries and EU agencies for justice and home affairs – the spokeswoman noted.

– The EC is ready to use all powers granted to it under the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU to ensure that Hungary complies with EU law, she said.

As an anonymous diplomat quoted by the agencies notes, the government in Budapest issued threats during its six-month presidency of the EU Council, when it should be playing the role of an honest broker. The announcements to send buses of migrants are another element that is destroying trust in Hungary – after an unagreed series of foreign visits by Prime Minister Viktor Orban right after Hungary took over the presidency and introduced visa facilitations for Russians and Belarusians.

As the source emphasized, as a result, some EU leaders may not come to Budapest for the informal summit on November 8 – or at least that is what Hungarian diplomacy expects. – However, there are no plans to move the summit from Budapest to Brussels, because the day before (also in Budapest – ed.) the summit of the European Political Community was convened. Transporting leaders from one end of Europe to the other would be an organizational horror – added the diplomat.

European Commission boycotts informal ministerial meetings held in Budapest – EC officials take part instead of commissioners. Some capitals have also lowered the rank of their representation at meetings in the Hungarian capital.

The only meeting so far whose organisation was taken away from Hungary was the meeting of foreign ministers at the end of August. The head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell decided to move them to Brussels.