Zoltán Lomnici Jr. reminds us that the Court of Justice of the European Union responded to the press request regarding the fine by saying that if the required payment is not made, the committee will deduct the relevant amount from Hungary's next transfer to the EU budget using the offsetting procedure.
The Court of Justice of the European Union imposed a huge penalty on Hungary due to the accusation of breach of obligations. However, the amount will most likely be deducted from the cohesion funds, and our country can also cut the 1 million euros per day delay fee, according to the expert.
Last Thursday, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) announced that it would impose an extremely large fine of 200 million euros on Hungary, because, in the opinion of the member state, it violated EU legislation extremely seriously. The reason for the withdrawal is the judgment of the infringement procedure, according to which Hungary did not change its border policy regarding the treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers.
In addition, the Hungarian government, which previously refused to implement the 2020 court ruling, must also pay a daily fine of one million euros until the measures are fully implemented. The European Commission, which initiated the procedure, originally asked the court to impose a fine of HUF 6 million per day. On the other hand, the institution's final decision prescribed a multiple of this amount: one million euros per day, i.e
the state must pay nearly four hundred million forints per day until the measures are fully implemented.
By shifting the financial aspects of migration management to the other member states, Hungary seriously violates the principle of solidarity and the fair distribution of responsibility among member states, which is an "unprecedented and extremely serious violation of EU law," according to the court.
The Luxembourg-based institution found that Hungary did not take the necessary measures to comply with the provisions of the 2020 judgment with regard to the right of persons applying for international protection to remain in Hungary until the appeal against the rejection of their application is legally binding, as well as the deportation of illegally staying third-country nationals did not show cooperation regarding In violation of the principle of loyal cooperation, according to the position
Hungary deliberately excludes itself from the application of the regulations of the common EU policy related to international protection.
The government was outraged
The decision is outrageous and unacceptable
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán responded in his Facebook post on the same day. According to the previous argument of the Orbán government, the breach of duty procedure was unjustified because Hungary had already closed the so-called "transit zones" before the judgment was handed down. Despite this, the European Commission submitted its second request to the court in early 2022, saying that Hungary had not taken all the necessary measures to comply with the panel's 2020 ruling.
Prime Minister Gergely Gulyás also called the court's verdict unjust and unacceptable in the government briefing last Thursday.
The judgment contradicts the law of the European Union, is incompatible with the Hungarian constitution, and punishes the country that rejects migration from the beginning and protects its own and Europe's external borders
- he stated, then added: the verdict "could never have been handed down in a normal court".
In order to find out what steps Hungary can take against the verdict, and what effect the fine has on the relationship between our country and the EU, just before the start of the consecutive presidency, we asked Zoltán Ember, an employee of the Compass Institute, and Zoltán Lomnici Jr., the scientific director of the Századvég Public Knowledge Center Foundation, separately. in the context of interviews.
An unprecedented ruling
According to Zoltán Lomnici Jr., the court's decision is without precedent because, on the one hand, no member state has ever been convicted for violating the principle of loyalty and cooperation, and on the other hand, the amount of the punishment extended beyond the claim, since the European Commission only imposed a conviction of 7 million euros and the judgment proposed a daily fine of HUF 6 million until the judgment is fulfilled (the Court of Justice of the European Union, on the other hand, fined our country 200 million euros and established a fine of 1 million euros per day until the judgment is fulfilled). In his opinion, the CJEU is actually the same
As usual, the leading bureaucrats of the EU institutions are overstepping their authority and trying to force Hungary to admit illegal migrants, using the tools of the law.
Hungary has acted and acts in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon and EU law, and the Hungarian government has also implemented a number of legislative acts in order to ensure that we receive the funds legally due to our country and withheld without any legal basis. The verdict may have a negative effect on the political relations between Hungary and the EU, as it may provoke resentment among Hungarians, which may give rise to conflicts and make Brussels-Hungarian relations turbulent.
They tap into sources of cohesion
Zoltán Lomnici Jr. reminds us that the Court of Justice of the European Union responded to the press request regarding the fine by stating that if the prescribed payment is not made, then
the commission will deduct the relevant amount from Hungary's next transfer to the EU budget using the set-off procedure.
Zoltán Ember emphasized that even though the sentence is indeed particularly severe, he does not eat the porridge as hot as it might have been read in some articles. Actually, we can say goodbye to the 200 million euros, but there is a lot of misunderstanding about the penalty of one million euros per day. It is important to know that, on the one hand, the daily liquidation has not yet started, so Hungary could still take steps to avoid this at any moment.
On the other hand, even if the clock starts ticking in a few weeks, this penalty would still be imposed en masse, and it would not have to be paid, but would be deducted from the 10 billion euros of EU resources released from the cohesion funds.
(During the gradual arrival of EU funds, HUF 546.2 billion in EU revenue came to the budget this year - ed.)
So, the EU plans to levy the penalty not all at once, but in blocks of 30-40 days, and in the meantime it is constantly trying to communicate with the given member state and offer a kind of hand to help it so that this situation does not persist for too long. for a while.
Financial support from a fine
In relation to what the Hungarian government is doing, Viktor Orbán's radio interview on Friday revealed that the government is aware of the 200 million euros, but still does not want to implement the recommendations (and the current final judgment) that it has already received Zoltán Ember draws attention. But due to the communication between the EU and our country, it is still possible to get out of this situation in a better way. Hungary can write a letter in which it explains that due to pressure on the Hungarian asylum system and border protection
is willing to make changes, but for this he would need a multi-million euro EU grant, which would be essential for the maintenance of the Hungarian border protection and asylum system. As a result, as strange as it may sound, the penalty may even have revenue implications along the way.
Why did they wait until the elections to make the announcement?
The experts agree that it can be considered a political tool on the part of the EU Court that the announcement of the judgment was postponed until after the European Parliament and municipal elections, since the imposition of the punishment could already be guessed in the past period.
According to Zoltán Lomnici Jr., the CJEU also knew that a ruling made on a political basis with draconian rigor would cause extremely serious resentment among EU citizens, as well as support the argument of the sovereignist parties that Brussels is overstepping its authority and wants to interfere with the member states into its internal affairs. What is even worse is that, according to him, the "independent" CJEU did not even decide on the date of the judgment, but gave him quasi-instructions.
All things considered, it is clear that even though the Union imposed a particularly heavy fine on Hungary, Hungary still has a realistic chance of reducing the amount of the financial penalty.
On the other hand, whether more favorable conditions can be achieved depends largely on the tone of future communication between the Hungarian government and the Union and the nature of the cooperation.
Featured image: Civilek.info
