The EC sent the letter on Tuesday, she added. Bertaud also confirmed that the government had two weeks to reply. On the basis of the information provided, the commission will start dialogue with the Hungarian authorities, she said. Benedek Jávor, MEP of the Dialogue for Hungary party, published the letter in a blog entry.

The letter referred to a preliminary evaluation by EC services of Hungarian legislation passed in July and September, concerning refugee regulations, border control, powers of the police and national security, and raised a number of concerns in terms of the stipulations and implementation of some of those amendments.

In its letter, the EC finds it problematic that under the new legislation, asylum applications filed at the border with Serbia can be almost “quasi-systematically” dismissed, and that there is a lack of effective remedies to challenge the decision.

New sanctions against illegal entrants, a lack of guarantees for violators’ right to defence, closure of border crossings, involving the military in border control, as well as a lack of special procedures for children are also among the issues raised by the commission.

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