Orbán cabinet: Hungary’s migration policy reason for Venice Commission assessment

The Venice Commission is assessing a law on Hungary’s migration tax, a government official said on Thursday, because the country’s migration policy “is at odds with the majority of related policies in Europe”.

Representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Justice Ministry met on Thursday with a delegation of the Venice Commission and the Council of Europe, in Hungary to assess the law on the special migration tax, state secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office Balázs Orbán noted.

In line with the law in force since August 25, organisations involved in assisting illegal migration are expected to pay 25 percent special tax on any funding they receive, Orbán said. The Venice Commission is assessing this law despite the Hungarian government’s understanding that it is a taxation matter and there is no connection between basic rights and the special tax, he added.

Every state has the right to impose taxes on activities that result in costs to society but do not serve society’s common aims, he said. The migration wave has resulted in serious costs in Hungary which have been paid by Hungarian taxpayers, totalling nearly 1 billion euros, he added.