Viktor Orbán's plan to send asylum seekers to Brussels via bus is "simply unacceptable", the European Commission said on Tuesday.
The Hungarian Prime Minister has caused uproar with his plan to offer asylum seekers a free "one-way ticket" to Brussels in protest against the EU's asylum and migration policy (and a €200 million fine for Hungary's failure to uphold it).
Orbán's strategy is "simply unacceptable", European Commission spokesperson Anitta Hipper said at the Commission's press conference on Tuesday. It "would violate European legislation and the principle of fair cooperation and undermine the very functioning of the Schengen area as a whole, where the freedom of movement of people is guaranteed by principle."
The Commission is in contact with Hungary and countries on the transit route to ensure that the buses are blocked, if Orbán actually tries to send them. "We stand ready to ensure, with all the competencies we have, that legislation is respected."
Germany has already tightened its border controls following a knife attack enacted by a Syrian refugee several weeks ago. Passports are being checked at all borders despite the country belonging to the Schengen Zone.
Legally unworkable
Migration researcher Thomas Huddleston from the University of Liège points out that the plan is flawed for numerous legal reasons.
"Orbán stole the idea from the US, but the US is one country and the EU is not," he told The Brussels Times. "Good luck getting irregular migrants and asylum seekers across German, Austrian and even more borders. [Even if it did happen] the migrants would be put back into the Dublin Regulation system."
Credit: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck
In addition, under the EU's Facilitation Directive, actors cannot knowingly facilitate the irregular transit of migrants. "Orbán and his government could be criminally liable for smuggling," says Huddleston.
Belgian response
Orbán announced the strategy in late August. But the Belgian backlash became more forceful on Monday after a video of Hungarian State Secretary Bence Rétvàri speaking in front of buses marked 'Röszke-Brussels' was published. "If Brussels wants migrants, Brussels can have them," he told the camera.
Outgoing State Secretary for Migration and Asylum Nicole de Moor also said the plan was "unacceptable" and denounced a "serious violation of the basic principles of European cooperation and mutual trust between EU Member States."
Le président du MR prend Orban pour modèle. Quand on vous dit que chez nous aussi la frontière entre la droite et l’extrême droite s’estompe de jour en jour. https://t.co/i3lb7syGrA
— Philippe Close (@PhilippeClose) September 9, 2024
Mayor of Brussels Philippe Close (PS) called on the outgoing Federal Government to stop the buses at the border. To this, Mouvement Réformateur (MR) party leader Georges-Louis Bouchez defended Orbán, stating: "Hungary is right to show the progressive left the real effects of its policy."
Close then likened Bouchez to Orbán and warned that the "the boundary between the right and the extreme right is blurring day by day."
