Hungary’s Orban Violating the EU Laws by Restricting Immigrants & Muslims Rights

Tensions have increased between the European Union and the government of Hungary due to many violations of European laws regarding human rights, especially the rights of migrants. Hungary has lined up on many occasions against the decisions of the European Union in defense of its interests with Russia. The most recent of which was its refusal to enact the sixth package of sanctions against Russia. The resolution required a unanimous vote of the 27 countries, but Hungary's refusal blocked the resolution.

In an interview with the German newspaper MDR, the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Katarina Barley, suggested depriving Hungary of the right to vote in the EU parliament because of its extortion and abuse.

She explained that voting rights could be suspended for any country that violates the rule of European law, especially Hungary that violates the conditions of democracy. She emphasized that “Orban put the country completely in his hands, little by little.”

 

Violating EU Laws

In November 2021 the EU's highest court, convicted Hungary of “violating EU laws” by restricting access to asylum procedures.

The Luxembourg-based court said that Hungary has violated European Union law by criminalizing assistance to asylum seekers, and demanded the "suspension" of the legislative package called "Stop Soros,” stressing at the same time that it "punishes anyone who provides assistance in asylum application, Hungary has failed to fulfill its obligations."

The Court of Justice had convicted Hungary in May of the year 2020 for the systematic detention of people in the "transit camps" (Röszke and Tompa) on its southern border, which led the Hungarian authorities to close the aforementioned transit camps.

Although Orban opened his country's borders to Ukrainians fleeing the war, he did not change immigration laws, and the responsibility of reception fell largely on local authorities and non-governmental organizations.

Orban is also counting on Hungary to be just a transit point for Ukrainians. Like other European countries, Hungary provides temporary protection (one-year residence) to Ukrainians, but official figures indicate that as of mid-March, about 4 thousand Ukrainians applied for temporary protection, while more than 300 thousand people arrived in the country from Ukraine during the mentioned period.

 

Hostility against immigrants

Orban adopted a strict approach to immigration since 2015, focusing its policy on a hostile rhetoric of immigration to his country and accusing immigrants of "taking away" the jobs of Hungarian citizens.

He also insisted that his country should not be forced into the refugee reception quota decision taken by European leaders in September 2015, in an effort to ease the burdens on Greece and Italy after the influx of migrants in large numbers.

Hungary also decided in 2017, to build a barbed wire wall, to prevent refugees from entering the country. The Hungarian police’s mistreatment of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants sparked condemnation by several humanitarian and human rights organizations, including Doctors Without Borders.

The Hungarian government also adopted a law to freeze any foreign funding to organizations worth more than 22,000 euros on the grounds that the funds could be used for money laundering or terrorist financing.

The European Union and Hungary's government have also increasingly battled accusations of corruption and abuse of power, as Orban has sought to limit the activities of civil society organizations accusing them of aiding refugees. As an example, the Hungarian-born American billionaire accused George Soros of "plotting to bring a million immigrants to Hungary," a claim Soros has repeatedly denied.

During his rule, most of the media, university officials and major economic actors were placed under the "supervision" of loyalists of the ruling Fidesz party.

The Stop Soros legislation, passed by the Hungarian parliament in June 2018, prohibits helping illegal immigrants to seek asylum and apply for residency within the country, with penalties of up to a year in prison for anyone accused of this “crime.”

NGOs criticized this decision, considering it as a threat to agencies assisting asylum seekers, which contradicts EU laws that encourage NGOs to provide information and legal advice to asylum seekers.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has reiterated his rejection of the immigration of large numbers of Muslims in his country, arguing that Muslims are a danger to his country.

Although he stressed that his country is not hostile to Islam, he emphasized that he opposes the change in the cultural and ethnic composition of the population of Hungary due to external factors.

 

Political Nightmare

Orban's fourth-consecutive victory in the April 2022 election showed the support of Hungary's electorate for Orban’s ambition to create an "illiberal" conservative state and ignored concerns about Budapest's close ties with Moscow.

The shock, as Orban's rival for the premiership, Peter Marki-Zay (a conservative backed by the opposition coalition from left to right) called it, concerns not only the interior of Hungary, but the European Union, and its capital in Brussels.

Upon his victory, Viktor Orban directed his message abroad, saying: "We won a victory so big that you can see it from the moon, and certainly from Brussels," according to the Hunger Today newspaper.

Orban’s message to Brussels came amid a tense and escalating relationship for nearly 8 years, for reasons related to his accusation of pursuing a policy that contradicts the values ​​and foundations of the European Union, through “Christian conservative nationalist” policies.

He was accused of abolishing the separation of powers, dominating the media, and using Europe’s resources to strengthen the centralization of his conservative national power.

It is noteworthy that in its 2022 report, the Freedom House classified Hungary outside the liberal democracies.

In addition, Orban's last victory raised general Western concern, about turning the Hungarian model of conservative nationalist rule into a case of inspiration for others.

The issue is related to the revival of the hopes of a global camp extending from the American right to Brazil, France, Italy, Scandinavia and other countries in the old continent. Especially since Orban plans to stay in power until 2030, which constitutes a political nightmare for the West, and gives a dose to the celebration of supporters of the hard-nationalist right camp.

Orban's message to Brussels was clear: "Christian democratic nationalist politics have triumphed, and we must tell Brussels that this is not the past, but the future."