Hungary is moving forward on handing one-way tickets to the European Union (EU) capital of Brussels, Belgium, to migrants. This is in response to the EU imposing a 200 million euro (~$220 million) fine on the Central European country for stopping would-be illegal immigrants at its border.
Bence Retvari, the Secretary of State in the Hungarian Ministry of Interior, announced at a press conference over the weekend that if the EU tries to force Hungary to accept illegal immigrants, then those migrants will be given one-way bus tickets directly to Brussels:
❗️Hungary begins to send Migrants on a “one-way” ticket from the Hungarian border to Brussels. 🇭🇺🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/zoQKwfhwTV
— Based Hungary 🇭🇺 (@HungaryBased) September 7, 2024
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is demanding Hungary change its asylum laws, which require would-be migrants to apply for asylum at Hungarian embassies. Migrants who show up at the border unannounced are mostly turned away instead of being allowed to enter the country and remain at large while their claims are processed.
In addition to the 200 million euro fine, the EU is trying to force Hungary to pay an additional one million euros every day it remains non-compliant. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán expressed his opposition to the ruling earlier this year, calling it “outrageous and unacceptable.”
Orbán and his government currently hold the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. Despite this, the EU is intensifying its adversarial approach Orbán’s anti-mass migration government.