Hungary’s criminalisation of help given to people in making their claim for asylum breaches EU law, the European Court of Justice said on Tuesday.
In June 2018, parliament passed the “Stop Soros” package, which penalised help and support for illegal immigration also affecting asylum seeekers.
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 organizations engaged in such activities, the EC maintained.
The EU court ruled on Tuesday 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.
Featured photo by Tibor Rosta/MTI
