Orbán rebels against solidarity for asylum seekers

"With today's decision, Brussels would force Hungary to pay even more or to take in migrants. This is unacceptable," Viktor Orbán said on Facebook on Monday.

The Hungarian Prime Minister was referring to a decision made not by the Belgian capital, but by the Council of the European Union where each member state is represented by a government minister. A law passed last year will make solidarity with countries under migration pressure mandatory from June 2026: countries can choose between financial contributions, technical support, or accepting asylum seekers.

On Monday, the Council of Member States decided to help four member states in 2026, counting with 21,000 asylum seekers or €420 million. Neither the public part of the original proposal nor the statement issued on the Council's decision mentions how much money or how many asylum seekers this means per country.

The Hungarian government has previously indicated that it will not implement the "migration pact." Orbán reiterated this on Monday, saying that "this is the beginning of a rebellion." "Hungary is already spending enough to protect the EU's external border," he added.

In the event of a breach of EU law, the European Commission may initiate infringement proceedings. After an exchange of correspondence, this may lead to a case before the European Court of Justice and then a fine. If the government fails to pay this, it will be deducted from EU subsidies, along with interest, but it may take years to reach that stage.

This was the case with the fine imposed on Hungary last June due to the government's failure to comply with EU asylum regulations. The fine increases by one million euros per day (enough to cover the cost of accepting 50 asylum seekers per day, which would amount to 18,250 people per year). Among other things, the EU court justified its ruling by stating that this way, Hungarian regulations are transferring responsibility for asylum matters, including the financial aspects, to other member states, thereby “seriously undermining the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility” and “deliberately evading the application of the EU common policy on international protection as a whole”, which "constitutes an unprecedented and extremely serious breach of EU law."

Last September, János Bóka, Minister for EU Affairs, announced that there was a "roadmap and methodology for agreeing on a solution" that would enable the government to comply with the EU court's ruling on asylum "as quickly as possible." In November 2024, the former European Commissioner for Home Affairs stated that both Bóka and Interior Minister Sándor Pintér had promised that the Hungarian government would comply with the ECJ's ruling on asylum legislation.