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EU court dismisses complaints by Hungary and Slovakia over refugee quotas EU court dismisses complaints by Hungary and Slovakia over refugee quotas
(about 1 hour later)
The European Union’s top court has dismissed complaints by Slovakia and Hungary about EU migration policy, upholding Brussels’ right to force member states to take in asylum seekers. The European Union’s top court has dismissed complaints by Slovakia and Hungary about EU migration policy, dealing a blow to the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, and his allies in central Europe over the bitterly contested policy of refugee quotas.
In the latest twist to a divisive dispute that broke out two years ago when more than 1 million migrants poured across the Mediterranean, the European court of justice found that the EU was entitled to order national governments to take in quotas of mainly Syrian refugees relocated from Italy and Greece. In an important victory for the EU, judges threw out a challenge against its mandatory relocation scheme, which aimed to relocate 120,000 asylum seekers around the bloc.
“The court dismisses the actions brought by Slovakia and Hungary against the provisional mechanism for the mandatory relocation of asylum seekers,” the Luxembourg-based court said, adding that it rejected the complaints “in their entirety”. The victory is set to deepen tensions between the EU and Hungary’s combative PM, who has made opposition to EU asylum policy a core theme of his “Stop Brussels” campaign. It will also raise tensions with Poland, which lent its support to the failed legal campaign.
“The mechanism actually contributes to enabling Greece and Italy to deal with the impact of the 2015 migration crisis and is proportionate.” The European court of justice (ECJ) dismissed “in their entirety the actions brought by Slovakia and Hungary”, a court statement said, vindicating the EU decision-making process that created a scheme to relocate 120,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other member states.
The programme set up by the executive European commission was approved by majority vote of member states in the face of opposition from formerly communist countries in the east who said their societies could not absorb mainly Muslim immigrants. Despite the legal win, fewer than a quarter of places have been filled. With the relocation scheme due to expire later this month, the EU is set for bruising arguments over what to put in its place.
It provided for the relocation of up to 120,000 people, but only 25,000 have so far been moved. A further programme for resettling people directly from outside the EU has also struggled to hit targets for taking in asylum-seekers. EU leaders agreed the plan at the height of the migration crisis, as thousands arrived daily on Europe’s shores, many of whom were refugees from Syria, Iraq and Eritrea. The quota system was adopted despite opposing votes from Slovakia and Hungary, who denounced the plan in court as illegal and ineffective.
Diplomats had expected the ruling and believe it could lead to resuming EU talks over an emergency mechanism for the arrival of exceptionally high numbers of refugees and migrants. The issue has been stalled for more than two years and divided the bloc at a time it faces Brexit, security threats and international challenges. On Tuesday, ECJ judges stated that EU law allowed EU institutions to adopt measures to respond to “an emergency situation characterised by a sudden inflow of displaced persons”. The court also concluded that the legality of the decision was not affected by retrospective conclusions about the policy’s effectiveness.
“We’ve been waiting for this to revive talks about the EU asylum system reform,” an EU diplomat said before the ruling. In a robust defence of the EU treaties, the court said: “The small number of relocations so far carried out under the contested decision can be explained by a series of factors … including, in particular, the lack of cooperation on the part of certain member states.”
The challengers from the EU’s east say the obligatory relocation of asylum-seekers arriving in frontline countries like Greece and Italy via the Mediterranean undermines their sovereignty and endangers their homogenous societies. Hungary and Poland had not made any pledges at the time of the last statistical update in July. The Czech Republic and Austria have also been urged to follow through on pledges, after meagre efforts.
They have said the bloc should instead control its external borders better to crack down on illegal immigration – something Brussels says it has succeeded in doing in the past two years. The original plan, pushed through by EU leaders in September 2015, set a target of relocating 120,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other EU member states. The number was later amended when 54,000 “unused places” were allocated to resettle Syrian refugees in Turkey in Europe. Based on the original 120,000 figure, 23% of places had been filled in July.
The court decision came as the EU executive curtly dismissed Orbán’s request for EU funds to build Hungary’s controversial border fence. In a letter from the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, Orbán is chastised for attempting to pick and choose EU policies. “Solidarity is not an à-la-carte dish,” states the letter, first obtained by Politico.
Juncker lists the financial support Hungary has received to manage migrant flows, including €4m Budapest lost out on by refusing to take part in the refugee relocation scheme. “Solidarity is a two-way street. There are times in which member states may expect to receive support, and times in which they, in turn, should stand ready to contribute,” he writes.
The ruling was greeted with immediate relief in Brussels. Manfred Weber, the head of the European parliament’s largest centre-right group, tweeted: “We expect all EU countries to respect and implement the ruling.”
#ECJ confirms our view on the migration scheme. We expect all EU countries to respect and implement the ruling. @EPPGroup 1/3
There was a predictable reaction from anti-EU parties. The former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “What a surprise – EU court undermines national sovereignty once again. It should be a decision of nation states who it allows inside its borders.”
The EU has taken in more than 1.7 million people from the Middle East and Africa since 2014. However, after a mass influx in 2015, numbers have gone down steadily following actions last year that all but closed the route from Turkey to Greece and from Greece to the Balkans and northern Europe. The EU has also increased support for Libya to curb arrivals in Italy.The EU has taken in more than 1.7 million people from the Middle East and Africa since 2014. However, after a mass influx in 2015, numbers have gone down steadily following actions last year that all but closed the route from Turkey to Greece and from Greece to the Balkans and northern Europe. The EU has also increased support for Libya to curb arrivals in Italy.
The eastern EU states say they can send equipment and border guards to the bloc’s external frontiers but do not want to accept refugees because of security risks after jihadist attacks in western Europe. The ruling has no impact on the UK, which has an opt-out from this area of EU law.
Hungary and Poland have refused to host a single person under the 2015 sharing scheme, while Slovakia and the Czech Republic have each taken in only a dozen or so. The countries concerned – Poland backed the complaint but did not formally join it – had been prepared to lose in court following an early recommendation to the justices in July.
“We will react by making clear we respect the court ruling,” a senior Slovak diplomat said on Tuesday. “We will also say we still think that’s not the way to solve the problem but we’ll say we’ll go on with relocation.”
Western EU states, including Germany, which took in the vast majority of the people who made it into the bloc and which will hold parliamentary elections on 24 September, say the eastern states cannot be exempted from showing solidarity.
Italy has been calling for reluctant eastern states to lose funding as punishment for their stance on migration.
While the EU has sought in vain to come up with a compromise, the court ruling may force Brussels’ hand. It is a delicate balancing act as putting such a thorny issue to a vote, and possibly passing a migration reform despite opposition from several states, would cause even more bad blood.
“If we push it through above their heads, they will use it in their anti-EU propaganda at home,” another EU diplomat said of Poland and Hungary, where the nationalist-minded governments are embroiled in disputes with Brussels over democratic rules.
“But the arrivals are low, we have it more or less under control, so we have to get back to the solidarity mechanism.”