Page 32 - bne_Magazine_October_2017

32 I Central Europe bne October 2017
quota plan, which was accepted by a majority vote.
Hungary was asked to take 1,294 asy- lum seekers, and Slovakia 802. Since then, Hungary, along with Poland,
has refused to take even one asylum seeker, while Slovakia has accepted around a dozen. The Czech Republic has decline to take any in the past year.
In anticipation of the verdict, Budapest has appealed to the Commission to, out of “solidarity” finance half the €880m cost of a fence being built on Hungary’s southern border. But the request was swiftly rejected by Commission Presi- dent Jean-Claude Juncker who claimed a lack of solidarity on Budapest’s part.
Hungary now fears that EU members will impose a permanent require- ment on EU nations to accept quotas. The court verdict only refers to the temporary migrant emergency from September 2015 to September 2017.
Stepping up pressure on the ren- egade countries, the Commission announced in July that it will accel- erate the next step in infringe- ment procedures against Hungary, Czechia and Poland for their failure to engage with the quotas scheme.
Bratislava recently said it was dis- appointed to hear a damning legal opinion from an advisor to the ECJ over its challenge to the mea-
Hungary’s government has made opposing the EU quota scheme
a centerpiece of its policy priorities ahead of the 2018 general election. Last October, Hungary held a referen- dum on the EUs planned refugee quotas, but it was ruled invalid due to the 45% participation rate.
Despite the invalid referendum, Hungari- an PM Viktor Orban handed in an amend- ment proposal to legitimise the result of
“Hungary’s government has made opposing the EU quota scheme a centerpiece of its policy priorities”
sure. PM Fico, unlike his Hungar- ian counterpart, has, however, largely abandoned his bitter anti- immigration stance since the March 2016 general election in Slovakia.
the referendum, which would have set in stone in the Constitution the rejection of migrants, but he failed to gather a two- thirds majority of MPs for it.
Refugees arriving in Greece by boat from Turkey. These Syrian refugees land their boat near Molyvos, Lesvos. www.shutterstock.com
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