EU takes Hungary to top court in migrant smuggler case

BRUSSELS: The European Commission on Wednesday said it will take Hungary to the EU’s top court for breaching rules on combatting people-trafficking, in the latest showdown between Brussels and the nationalist government in Budapest.
Brussels launched legal action in 2023 after Budapest decided to release and expel several thousand jailed migrant traffickers on the grounds holding them in Hungarian prisons was a burden to the taxpayer.
An April 2023 decree by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government enabled the smugglers’ release — giving them three days to leave Hungary, theoretically with a view to serving out their sentences in their home country.
But the EU charged that no system was put in place to ensure smugglers were taken back into custody once expelled, and decided to refer Hungary to the European Court of Justice after it failed to address the concerns.
More than 2,400 people-smugglers had been released under the measure as of January this year, according to Hungarian government figures.
Brussels accuses Budapest of a failure to meet its obligations to “impose effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions” for migrant smuggling.
Hungary’s government has retorted that human traffickers can only operate because of European laws encouraging migration.
Brussels has repeatedly locked horns with Orban’s government over its tough line on migration — one of a long list of areas where the EU deems Budapest to be falling short of its democratic standards.
In June last year, the EU’s top court fined Hungary 200 million euros ($216 million) and imposed a daily one-million-euro penalty for illegally deporting migrants.
More broadly, billions of euros in EU funds are currently frozen over issues including the treatment of asylum seekers, LGBTQ rights, alleged corruption and the independence of academics.