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Hungary threatens the EU with free migrant transport to Brussels


The conflict between Hungary and the EU is escalating. Hungary has now even declared that it is prepared to send all refugees to Brussels by train.

The Hungarian government has escalated its dispute with the European Union over asylum policy. Gergely Gulyás, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's chief of staff, announced in Budapest on Thursday that Hungary was ready to finance single tickets to Brussels for migrants and asylum seekers seeking entry to the EU. This statement came in response to a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in June in which Hungary was fined 200 million euros for repeatedly violating EU asylum law.

Gulyás made the Hungarian government's position clear: "Brussels wants to force us to let migrants in at any cost." He threatened that if the EU continues to enforce rules "that do not allow migrants to be arrested at the border," Hungary will "offer free transport to Brussels" to every migrant. Hungary is not willing to pay the daily fine imposed by the ECJ. "If Brussels wants the migrants, it can have them," Gulyás added.

The ECJ's decision to impose a daily fine of one million euros in addition to the high fine if Hungary does not adapt its asylum policy to EU rules has further increased tensions between Budapest and Brussels.

Since the migration crisis in 2015, the Hungarian government under Viktor Orbán has pursued a strict anti-migration policy. Barbed wire fences were erected on the southern borders with Serbia and Croatia, and transit zones were created in which migrants were detained. These transit zones have now been closed, but the government's hard line remains.

Source: Apollo News
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