Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaking on April 3, 2022. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP) … [+] (Photo by ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images)
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A standoff between Hungary and the European Union is escalating, with the latter threatening to use all their power to stop Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban transporting asylum seekers to Brussels. The dispute is the latest round of an ongoing fight between Hungary and the E.U. over irregular migration in Europe.
Orban and his cabinet have been threatening for some time to ‘bus’ asylum seekers from Hungary’s borders straight to Brussels, the spiritual capital of the European Union. There are a few things going on behind these threats. First, the threats are nominally a retaliation for the multi-million dollar fines the E.U. has imposed on Hungary over non-compliance with common asylum legislation.
In short, during the so-called ‘migrant crisis’ of 2015 and 2016, Hungary put up infrastructure across its borders to prevent people from entering to claim asylum. To date they have ignored a ruling by the European Court of Justice to resume letting people in, leading to fines of hundreds of millions of dollars.
More broadly, the ‘bussing’ threats are just the latest round of a long-running dispute between the E.U. and Hungary over how the bloc should share out responsibility for providing shelter to asylum seekers. Domestically, Orban portrays himself as taking a firm stance against what he says are unfair burdens on Hungary imposed by the E.U, while they – in his framing – neglect to properly defend the external borders of the bloc. In turn, the E.U. has repeatedly censured Hungary for abdicating its humanitarian responsibilities.
There is also an element of political theatre to the bussing threats, which Orban has lifted from his right-wing contemporaries in the United States. Republican lawmakers in Florida and Texas in recent years have put people arriving on their southern borders onto transports headed North. With remarkably similar rhetoric as Orban, these leaders portrayed the stunts as highlighting the ‘hypocrisy’ of lawmaking elites far away from border flashpoints.
It is not clear whether Orban actually intends to carry out the transports he’s threatening, but lawmakers in Brussels are taking it seriously. The mayor of Brussels accused Orban of trying to hold the city ‘hostage.’
“We will resist and Hungary will buckle under the weight of Europe,” Philippe Close told Euronews. “We will not be held hostage to a far-right government like Orbán’s.”
The European Commission has also spoken out, calling the threats unacceptable and saying that if Orban were to actually carry out the transports he would be violating E.U. law.
The same week that the ‘bussing’ controversy hit its height, Germany announced it intends to reintroduce controls along all of its land borders, and push back people trying to cross into the country to claim asylum.
The irony hasn’t been lost on Orban.
He’s not the only one to comment. Poland’s centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk has criticized Germany for clamping down on its borders. Poland has experienced its own political turmoil over irregular migration in recent years, with many people crossing from Belarus. Tusk’s criticism of Germany – that by closing its borders it is effectively forcing its neighbors to take up the responsibility of providing shelter to asylum seekers – is in essence the same criticism levelled against Hungary for years.
Other European states are restricting their borders as well, and the knock-on effects of these restrictions are likely to worsen a perceived political crisis over immigration in the E.U. Amid that crisis, Hungary’s battle against the rest of the bloc over its own policies will undoubtedly continue. The decision of more liberal states to restrict movement across their own borders gives him plenty of ammunition for the fight.
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Publish date : 2024-09-12 05:16:00
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