Since July 2023, driving through the border crossing is only allowed with a permit that costs 160 euros.Continue reading
The Administrative Court of Burgenland has filed a complaint with the Austrian Constitutional Court against the municipality of Schattendorf in the case of the border closure, and requested that the ordinance establishing the pedestrian zone be repealed. This encouraging result was reported by Máté Ruzicska, an employee of the law firm NZP Nagy Legal, which has sued the municipality of Schattendorf.
“Previously, we had filed a civil action for damages against the Somfalva municipality, because in one particular case we had to take a detour because of the closed border and we suffered damages as a result. We stressed, however, that it is not about money, but about what we believe in, that in the 21st century there is no place for such a discriminatory, border-closing provision. Our claim was rejected by the Eisenstadt Regional Court, which said that we should not be compensated because we had to take a detour. As mentioned earlier, there was also a lengthy administrative case pending against the municipality, which has now been decided. The Burgenland Administrative Court agreed with the constitutional criticisms made in our petition and has therefore turned to the Austrian Constitutional Court with a request to annul the municipality’s pedestrianization ordinance in its entirety,” said Dr. Máté Ruzicska, who gave details of the case to Kisalföld.
The issue of border traffic between the Hungarian municipality Ágfalva (Agendorf) and the Austrian Schattendorf (Somfalva) has long been controversial.
As Hungary Today reported earlier, the Austrian municipality put up bollards at the border in 2023, making free border crossing impossible. From July of that year, only people with a permit and who paid a fee of 160 euros were allowed to cross the border between Schattendorf and Ágfalva. The fee is valid for two years and can mostly be redeemed in shops in the Austrian municipality, but commuters still feel it is unfair.
Another problem is that border crossing permits were distributed unequally, with Austrian citizens being given preference over Hungarians.
At the beginning of July 2023, the Hungarian Foreign Minister called on the Austrian Minister for European and Constitutional Affairs to ensure that the province of Burgenland or local communities do not take any measures that violate the common European agreements. “Crossing the border must be possible quickly and unhindered in as many places as possible for those who want to cross the border fairly and in an orderly manner, such as commuters,” stressed Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.
Lawyer Máté Ruzicska explained that the court had listed several problems with the Schattendorf municipality’s ordinance in a carefully reasoned application, such as the fact that no required public consultation had taken place before the decision was made.
The ordinance violated the rule of law and the municipality had no authority to issue the ordinance. The law was not enacted for the legally prescribed purpose of road safety but to exclude commuter traffic.
Even if the municipality had been responsible, a balancing of the conflicting public interests between travelers and pedestrians would have had to be carried out locally, which in no way happened, Ruzicska argued. According to the response to our public information, the expert commissioned by the municipality is a personal acquaintance of the mayor and is not a traffic engineer, but an architect, Ruzicska continued. The report itself is inconsistent and unfounded. The regulation violates the constitutional principle of equality before the law. In the coming months, the Constitutional Court will ask the parties for their opinion in writing and then decide whether to repeal the municipality’s regulation, added the employee of the law firm NZP Nagy Legal.
A decision on the matter is expected by summer and is binding for the municipality of Schattendorf.
Via Ungarn Heute, kisalfold.hu; Featured photo via Ungarn Heute
