Foreign Minister Tells Financial Times Quota System ‘Dead-End Street’
- 14 Sep 2017 8:34 AM
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told the Financial Times in an interview published on Wednesday that the EU programme to share refugees among member states was a “failure” and a “dead-end street”. Budapest will not change its standpoint, he said, despite last week’s ruling by the European Court of Justice.
“We have been saying exactly the same thing for the last two years; the obligatory quota system is dangerous, it’s a pull factor, it’s unenforceable and it’s against common sense,” Szijjártó said.
The Hungarian government turned to the Luxembourg-based court in December 2015 over the quota scheme, asking the ECJ to annul the European Council resolution on relocating 120,000 refugees to member states on a mandatory basis.
It argued that the obligation for Hungary to receive 1,294 asylum-seekers from Italy and Greece should be annulled. The ECJ dismissed the case on Sept. 6.
Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.
Photo: kormany.hu
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