“Hungary, together with Slovakia and with the support of Poland, took the liberty of attacking the refugee resettlement quota system at the European Court of Justice, and a ruling on the case is expected in the autumn”, Minister of Justice László Trócsányi said in an interview published in Wednesday’s edition on Russian economic daily Kommersant.

According to the Minister, Hungary was forced to take the issue to court because “regardless of whether it is mandatory or not, the quota system forces certain obligations on countries”. Mr. Trócsányi pointed out that in June 2015, when the European Council voted to introduce a system to distribute refugees, Hungary accepted the conclusion, because it related to voluntary participation.

“At the time, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán already stated that he did not agree with participation in the programme, but was not against others taking part in it”, the Minister said.

Mr. Trócsányi pointed out that three months later the Council of EU Interior Ministers decided that the distribution system must be made mandatory, by majority vote.

“According to the new text, the distribution of refugees arriving from Italy, Greece and Hungary, which at the time was already seriously affected by the migration crisis, must be supported. We did not want to achieve a privileged situation, all we asked was that we be struck from the list with the text be amended to state that we are not included in the scope of effect of this resolution” he said.

“But the proposal was eventually adopted, and the end result is that in the morning we were talking about the refugees in Hungary being distributed, but by the evening it had already become compulsory to accept refugees from other countries within the framework of the resettlement programme”, the Minister said, adding that several countries had voted against the proposal at the time.

Mr. Trócsányi explained that Hungary regards the decision as unlawful. From a formal perspective, in view of the fact that it was not approved by the European Parliament. The issues relating to the content of the decision include the fact that EU interior ministers had overruled the conclusion of the EU summit, in addition to which the decision of the interior ministers had changed EU legal norms, including the Dublin Agreement, which is otherwise not possible without the amendment of the treaty itself.

“I understand that in 2015 everyone was doing their best to find a solution, and that there is certainly a need for solidarity in Europe, but this decision does not work: a few countries accept five-ten people instead of a thousand and declare that they have begun the realisation of the programme. And the European Commission continues to insist on its implementation”, he said.

“We, together with Slovakia and with the support of Poland, took the liberty of attacking this system. These are historic legal proceedings without precedent”, Mr. Trócsányi declared.

According to the Minister, Hungary is now waiting for the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union to put forward his legal position on the case at the end of July and “according to our expectations”, the Court will issue its verdict in the autumn. In reply to a question concerning whether Hungary would accept a possible ruling against it, the Minister declared: “The implementation of the Court’s ruling is mandatory. In such a case we will examine our options and begin the process of analysing and studying how other countries take part in the distribution system. (…) But regardless of this, the system is not working in other countries”.

In reply to a suggestion that Hungary was perhaps preparing to commit sabotage, Mr. Trócsányi said: “I don’t want to talk about ‘sabotage’, in such a case we will have to begin technical negotiations with the European Commission or other responsible bodies with regard to the nature and details of the programme”.

The Minister said he was not worried that the EU would impose sanctions against Hungary in such an event.

“We live in a Europe that is open to dialogue. And it is logical that the 28 states, or in future the 27 states, have the right to declare the truth. Europe must be a place in which every country enters into open dialogue, even if they do not always agree. But we cannot allow decisions to be made by a few countries, and for the other countries to be forced to follow their lead”, the Minister of Justice said in his interview for Kommersant.

(MTI)