Belgium's outgoing State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor has said that Viktor Orbán's plan to bus migrants to Brussels is "unacceptable" after the Hungarian Prime Minister indicated he was serious about his idea.
"If Brussels wants migrants, Brussels can have them," Orbán repeated at a press conference in Italy on Friday, indicating that Hungary was holding firm on the plan to send busloads of displaced people to Brussels in protest of the EU's migration policy.
The Hungarian Prime Minister is pushing back on a legal ruling that fined Hungary €200 million for violating European law in its treatment of asylum seekers (plus €1 million per day until it adheres to the rules). In retaliation, buses routed from Röszke (a village in the south) to the Belgian capital will offer new arrivals a "one-way trip" to the EU institutions, free of charge.
De Moor (CD&V) "strongly condemned" the "unacceptable" plan and denounced a "serious violation of the basic principles of European cooperation and mutual trust between EU Member States."
Viktor Orbán and Charles Michel. Credit: Hungarian Presidency of the EU
'Flagrant violation' of international law
"If Hungary were actually to implement these plans, this would mean that migrants would illegally cross the territory of other Member States and ultimately arrive illegally in Belgium," a press release published on Monday stated. "This would be a flagrant violation of European and international agreements."
Orbán's strategy, announced in late August, is prompting responses from a flurry of Belgian politicians.
"The Hungarian government, which also chairs the (presidency of the Council of the) EU, is clearly not afraid of any provocation. I ask Alexander De Croo and Annelies Verlinden to block these buses at the border," tweeted the Mayor of Brussels Philippe Close (PS). "How long are we going to tolerate these provocations from a country that we subsidise?"
Bouchez defends Orbán
Whilst Belgium's political establishment widely rebuked Orbán, leader of the francophone liberal Mouvement Réformateur (MR) Georges-Louis Bouchez stood out in his defence of Orbán's strategy. In response to Close's tweet, Bouchez said: "Aren't you the ones who want to welcome all migrants in your great generosity? Hungary is right to make the progressive left feel the real effects of its (migration) policies."
In the exchange that followed, Close likened Bouchez to Orbán, saying that "the boundary between the right and the extreme right is blurring day by day."
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
Meanwhile, newly appointed EU Commissioner Hadja Lahbib (an MR colleague of Bouchez) has criticised the Hungarian Prime Minister. "The announcement made this morning is a provocation which contradicts European obligations," she tweeted. "Migration policy is a common challenge that must be addressed in an orderly and united manner by all Member States."
Belgium's own legal problems
Belgium's own migration policy has also violated international law. A lack of accommodation for asylum seekers has resulted in a long-standing reception crisis, with 3,900 international protection applications without shelter or state support as of August.
The Belgian State and asylum reception agency Fedasil has accumulated thousands of court rulings for failing to provide shelter to asylum seekers (and thereby flouting international law). In August, De Moor suspended the right to asylum for single males – another breach of international law.
