Hungary has joined the Netherlands in seeking an opt-out from European Union asylum rules, a minister said, as the country’s nationalist leader Viktor Orban is expected to make a splash in the European Parliament on Tuesday.
Last month, the Dutch government, dominated by Geert Wilders’ far-right party, declared an “asylum crisis” and asked Brussels to opt out of the common asylum policy.
It said the move was justified in order to provide “housing, healthcare and education” to its citizens, but the European Commission responded by saying it did not expect “immediate changes.”
The European treaties are binding agreements and any exemption can only be made with the agreement of the 27 EU member states.
The EU rules, adopted in May and set to come into force in 2026, aim to share reception responsibilities across the 27-nation bloc and speed up deportations of those deemed ineligible to stay.
Viktor Orban heads to the European Parliament today for what promises to be a stormy face-to-face with EU lawmakers.
The Hungarian border fence is seen at the Hungarian-Serbian border near Asotthalom, Hungary, on September 10, 2024.
Migrants cross the border between Slovakia and Hungary near Vyskovce Nad Iplom, Slovakia, on September 6, 2023.
Dutch PVV Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met this week at the Italian far-right League party’s annual rally in Pontida, northern Italy.
Budapest wrote to EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson on Monday requesting an exemption from the rules, Hungarian EU Affairs Minister Janos Boka said on Facebook.
“The Hungarian government is determined to take firm measures to protect its borders and stop illegal migration that threatens national security,” Boka said in the letter posted on Facebook late Monday.
He added that “restoring stronger national control over migration” was “the only option” to curb “illegal migration.”
Hungary frequently accuses the European Commission of promoting migration with its policies.
In June, the European Court of Justice fined Hungary for failing to respect international procedures for asylum seekers. The Central European country has so far refused to pay the fine.
Orban heads to the European Parliament today for what promises to be a stormy face-to-face with EU lawmakers, halfway through the norm-defying bloc’s presidency in Budapest.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally within the EU, Orban’s government is at odds with its partners on a range of issues, from halting aid to Ukraine to enacting a series of laws that the bloc considers a democratic setback.
Orban set the tone with a combative social media post on Sunday, pointing to far-right electoral gains from Italy to the Netherlands to Austria, and the growing influence of a new Hungarian-led group in the EU parliament. Patriots for Europe.
The European Parliament before a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on October 7, 2024
“We should not withdraw from Brussels, but occupy it,” he wrote. ‘We will take Brussels back from the bureaucrats and give it back to the European people!’
The hot-button issue of migration is expected to gain prominence as Hungary’s anti-immigration government threatens to bus asylum seekers to Brussels in protest at the bloc’s refugee policies.
It comes as the Dutch government, which was formed in July and includes Wilders’ far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), declared an “asylum crisis” to pave the way for tougher measures.
These would include a freeze on asylum applications and powers to forcibly deport people who have no right to be in the Netherlands.
Under the proposal, refugees would also be able to bring family members if they have had residency status for two years, have housing and a “stable income.”
Currently, asylum seekers receive an indefinite stay permit after five years.
The German government announced last month that it would introduce controls at all its land borders to address the “continuing burden” of migration and “Islamist terrorism.”
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the EU that the country had no choice but to implement adequate border controls to deal with unauthorized entries.
The politician marked a U-turn from her stance just last month, when she refused to extend strict controls first introduced last year on Germany’s borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
These rules have already caused more than 30,000 people to be returned to the borders since mid-October last year.