EU Court Fines Hungary €200 million For Defying EU Asylum Policies and Additional €1 Million Per Day Until it Complies

The European Union’s top court on Thursday fined Hungary €200 million($216 million) for defying the EU’s immigration and asylum policies, the BBC reported. Hungary faces an additional fine of one million euros ($1.08 million) every day until it complies with the EU’s immigration measures.

In a statement on Facebook, Prime Minister Viktor Orban called the decision outrageous and unacceptable,” and vowed not to comply. Orban, a conservative populist, has often clashed with the EU’s liberal executive commission.

“We will not allow financial blackmail by Brussels bureaucrats!” he said. “We will protect the borders and we will protect the Hungarian people!”

The European Court of Justice said Hungary had violated EU laws by forcing asylum seekers to travel to Belgrade, Serbia or Kyiv, Ukraine to apply for a travel permit to enter the country.

EU law stipulates that “everyone fleeing persecution in their home country has the right to ask for international protection, and cannot be removed to their home if there is a serious risk of death or torture.”

In its verdict, the Court said Hungary had “deliberately” avoided applying EU policy and its failure “constitutes an unprecedented and extremely serious infringement of EU law”.

The Court also accused Hungary of  “unlawfully detaining people applying for international protection and not respecting their right to remain in Hungary until an appeal on their application was exhausted.”

The Court said Hungary’s refusal to comply with EU laws “passed responsibility on to other EU countries and undermined solidarity.”

A new EU policy on asylum that aims to speed up the asylum process requires member countries to either take in thousands of migrants from “frontline” nations, such as Italy, Greece and Spain, or provide extra funding or resources instead.

In response, Hungary vowed not to take any irregular migrants, regardless of any pact.

Orban is looking forward to taking over the EU’s rotating presidency on July 1.

“If we want to retain Hungary’s freedom and sovereignty, we must occupy Brussels and bring change to the European Union,” he declared at a rally in Budapest on March 15.