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| Migrant crisis: Hungary challenges EU quota plan in court | Migrant crisis: Hungary challenges EU quota plan in court |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Hungary says it has filed a court challenge against a European Union plan to distribute refugees among the bloc's member states. | |
| A justice ministry spokesman confirmed the case had been filed at the European Court of Justice, AFP reports. | A justice ministry spokesman confirmed the case had been filed at the European Court of Justice, AFP reports. |
| EU interior ministers approved the plan for mandatory quotas to distribute 120,000 refugees in September, despite opposition from several states. | |
| Slovakia filed a similar court challenge on Wednesday. | Slovakia filed a similar court challenge on Wednesday. |
| National newspapers in Hungary on Thursday carried full-page government adverts attacking the EU plan. | |
| One message read: "The quota increases the terror threat!" | |
| A nationwide campaign against the plan is set to see billboards going up exhorting Hungarians to "defend the country", according to AFP. | |
| Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has drawn criticism from other EU leaders for his hardline comments on Muslim migrants. | |
| Who is Viktor Orban? | |
| Announcing the court challenge on Thursday, he said it was "not enough to protest [the EU plan], action must be taken". | |
| Under the EU system, Hungary and Slovakia are both expected to receive some 2,300 people, according to AFP. | |
| Both countries, in addition to the Czech Republic and Romania, voted against the proposal in September. | |
| The scheme applies only to refugees most in need of international protection - not economic migrants. | |
| Hungary was originally considered one of the "frontline" states in the migrant crisis and the plan would have seen 54,000 refugees relocated from its territory. | |
| However due to its rejection of the plan, that number will instead be transferred from Italy and Greece, and Hungary has to accept a quota of refugees. |