Hungary prefers to pay the daily fine of one million euros for not complying with a European justice ruling on violating community asylum rules, as it is „cheaper” than accepting immigrants, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban declared on Friday.
„We pay one million euros per day. But if I calculate how much it would cost to let them enter Hungary, it is cheaper to pay the fine without allowing the immigrants to enter,” Orban insisted in his weekly statements on public radio Kossuth, EFE reports.
In this regard, the ultranationalist leader described Hungary's behavior as "a rebellion" against the European Union's (EU) migration policies, with which he disagrees.
In December 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that Hungary had not complied with community law regarding procedures for granting international protection and returning third-country nationals in irregular situations.
Subsequently, in June 2024, the European court decided that Budapest had deliberately failed to implement the 2020 decision, imposing a penalty of 200 million euros, as well as a fine of one million euros for each day of delay in complying with the decision.
Hungary refuses to pay the fine, so the European executive deducted those 200 million euros from the EU budget to Hungary last September, along with another 93 million euros accumulated for non-payment of the one million euros per day fine.