In June 2018, parliament passed the “Stop Soros” package, which penalised help and support for illegal immigration.

The European Commission sued Hungary at the Luxembourg court for restricting activities such as counseling and assisting asylum seekers. The Hungarian measures were contrary to EU asylum law and violated the right of asylum seekers to meet and interact with organisations engaged in such activities, the EC maintained.

The EU court ruled today that Hungary’s assertion that asylum seekers are entitled to international protection in Hungary only if they arrive directly from an unsafe country breached EU law.

Hungarian legislation also fell foul of obligations arising from the Reception Directive, the court ruled, by penalising activity such as lodging an asylum application if it could be shown that the person doing so was aware that the application could not be accepted under Hungarian law.

The law, the court added, restricts rights guaranteed under EU directives, such as the right to meet and communicate with applicants for international protection, and these restrictions could not be justified on the grounds of possible abuses of asylum procedure or combatting illegal immigration as stated in the Hungarian law.

Kovács: Hungary Not To Become Immigrant Country

Hungary's current government, as long as it is in power, "will enforce the will of the Hungarian people and prevent Hungary from becoming an immigrant country," Zoltán Kovács said on Tuesday.

Referring to the European Court ruling that Hungary’s criminalisation of help given to people in making their claim for asylum breaches EU law, the state secretary for international communications and relations said on Facebook that the “Stop Soros” law passed in 2018, which made organising and financing illegal migration punishable, had succeeded in preventing the mass influx of migrants.

Citing public surveys carried out in Hungary, he said the law had the steadfast support of the Hungarian people. He said the “pro-immigration left” had savaged the law and, under pressure from the Soros Open Society Foundations, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings against Hungary.

Kovács said Hungary respected the ECJ’s ruling regarding the Stop Soros package of laws, but it reserved the right to take action against foreign-funded NGOs, including any activities by organisations funded by George Soros seeking political influence or promoting migration.

Hungary’s position on migration, he said, had not changed — namely, that help should be given at the location of the problem.

FM: EU Backs Sanctions For Use of Migration as Mode of Manipulation

Following its latest review of the situation on the Belarus-Poland border, the European Union has backed the use of sanctions against Belarus for using migration as a mode of manipulation, Hungary’s foreign minister said in Brussels on Monday.

Under the resolution approved at Monday’s meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, the EU can impose sanctions on people and organisations who use migration as a mode of manipulation, Péter Szijjártó said on the sidelines of the meeting.

The list of specific individuals and entities to be sanctioned will be decided later, he added. The EU faces “unprecedented levels of migration pressure”, Szijjártó said, arguing that the bloc was “under siege from the south, the south-east and the east”.

He said the Visegrad Group had also held a special meeting on Monday where the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia all offered their help to Poland. When Hungary found itself in a similar situation in 2015, the other V4 countries all came to its aid, the minister said.

Concerning the migration pressure from the south, Szijjártó emphasised the importance of improving living conditions instead of supporting emigration in troubled African countries.

Hungary does its fair share when it comes to such efforts, he said, noting that by end of 2023 the country will have contributed a maximum of 80 soldiers to Europe’s Takuba Task Force fighting Islamic State-linked militants in Mali.

Szijjártó also urged speeding up the EU integration of the Western Balkans, saying Hungary expected the bloc to begin accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia and to open at least two accession chapters with Serbia before the end of the year.

“Anyone who blocks this must bear the responsibility for the historic levels of damage that will cause in this region,” he said.

Meanwhile, the minister said Hungary would support an Eastern Partnership country deepening its ties with the EU only if its leadership respected the rights of national minorities like those of Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarian community.

On another subject, he said Azerbaijan could become a key player when it comes to Europe’s gas supply, but this required investments in infrastructure and increased extraction rates.

“If we can’t make that work, then no one will have the right … to criticise us for having to sign a long-term gas supply deal with Russia,” he said.