The European Commission will start deducting the 200 million euro fine from the funding payable to Hungary as the country has failed to pay by the deadline, the EC’s spokesperson said on Wednesday.
The second deadline of payment of the fine imposed in a ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union on June 13, after Hungary missed the first, was on September 17.
Balázs Ujvári said the Commission was mulling whether to deduct one lump sum or instalments.
In connection with a daily fine of 1 million euros, Hungary was also required to notify the EC on measures it would take to align its procedures with those ordered by the CJEU which imposed the fine in connection with the country’s migration practices, Ujvari said. The Hungarian authorities have given no response, and so the EC has sent the first request for payment, Ujvari said. The fine for the period between June 13 and September 17 comes to 93 million euros, and Hungary has 45 days to pay it, he added.
In the ruling issued last December, the CJEU said Hungary was “not respecting” EU legislation, including those on international asylum and on returning illegal immigrants to their home countries.
‘Manhunt’ against politicians who reject migration, FM Szijjártó says
A “manhunt” for politicians and governments that reject migration is under way, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in Budapest on Wednesday, referring to the EU’s “huge fine” levied on Hungary and the six-year prison sentence sought for Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy PM.
“Brussels now runs a pro-migration policy, so a manhunt is under way for politicians and governments that reject this,” the minister said, responding to a journalist’s question at a joint press conference with Serbia’s economy minister.
“So we’re having to pay a huge fine for protecting our border, and that’s also why they’re seeking prison sentence of more than a half-decade for the Italian deputy prime minister,” he said, adding: “Are we living in a normal world? Has everyone here in Europe totally lost their minds?”
Salvini, he said, was a responsible politician who had chosen to protect his country and enforce its laws which determined who can enter Italian territory.
Hungary, he added, was being punished for protecting its borders, and yet “no one says a word about” the fact that Germany has closed the internal Schengen borders.
The Schengen area works only if the external borders are protected, he said. “We are now being punished for this,” he added.
Fidesz MEP: PfE group expresses solidarity with Salvini
The European parliamentary group Patriots for Europe are standing by Italian deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the leader of the League party, against whom prosecutors are seeking a 6-year prison term, Fidesz MEP Kinga Gál, the deputy leader of PfE, said on Tuesday.
Gál said it was “unacceptable” that “decision-makers protecting their own countries and citizens, and Europe’s external borders, are threatened with prison”. Border protection is a duty, “Schengen doesn’t work without it”, she said.
Gál, who also heads the Fidesz MEP group, told a press conference on the sidelines of the EP plenary that Brussels and the European Commission should support border protection “in principle and in material support”. She called on the EC to support all political forces protecting country borders and so European citizens.
PfE had proposed including Salvini’s case in the EP plenary’s agenda, but the EP rejected it “as an incredible and outrageous request”, she said.
“Borders must be protected, and the ships of NGOs must be monitored and their operations limited,” Gál said. “The only way to return to common sense is to scrap the flawed migration pact and declare the protection of external borders a priority,” she said.
Then-Interior Minister Salvini turned away Open Arms, a Spanish vessel operated by an NGO carrying 147 people, from the port of Lampedusa in August 2019. The ship was forced to wait in open waters for 19 days, when the prosecutor’s office in Agrigento, Sicily, allowed the passengers to come to shore. A year later, the Italian parliament lifted Salvini’s immunity in the procedure where he had been accused of hostage-taking, abuse of power, violation of international conventions, and other crimes.
Salvini said on Facebook he was proud to have been protecting Italy’s borders and would do so again if necessary.
A ruling in the case is expected in October.
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2 Comments
The Real Person!
Author Larry acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.
Fidesz throws away the money of Hungarians for nothing. It’s a trainwreck of a government..
The Real Person!
Author Michael Steiner acts as a real person and passed all tests against spambots. Anti-Spam by CleanTalk.
Keep it up, EUrogarbage. The people are watching, taking note(s), and waiting. This won’t hurt Hungary; it’ll hurt those operating against Hungary.