It is expected that the case will last one and a half years and will set a precedent, he said.

The Hungarian government believes the EU has mishandled the migration issue, and the mandatory quota system acceptable neither in a legal nor in a political sense.

This policy raises humanitarian questions. Hungary’s application to the court first argues that the decision on quotas lacks authorisation since it could not have been adopted in accordance with EU rules and regulations. The government finds it a cause for concern that transitional provisions on quotas last two or three years, whereas legal practice earlier only allowed six months for similar provisions.

The European Union should rather have concentrated on what kind of help should be extended to Italy and Greece rather than obliging others to accept migrants from third countries, he said.

Further, the council of interior and justice ministers broke a rule stated in the basic treaty on unanimous decision making as the powers of national parliaments to weigh on the matter should have been guaranteed.

Trócsányi said he trusted that the new Polish government would intervene on Hungary’s side, and other countries such as the Czech Republic, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and Finland may also show an interest.

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MTI photo: Mohai Balázs