European Central: Hungary Attempts To Criminalize Aiding Asylum Seekers
AFP Contributor
In 2018, Hungary passed legislation that made it illegal to aid asylum seekers arriving to the country. This was a move made by Prime Minister Viktor Orban as a way to make Hungary a less attractive destination for asylum seekers. This legislation was also known as Stop Soros, in reference to the Hungarian billionaire. It has been alleged by Orban that George Soros has been pushing for mass migration and an open borders policy. After the legislation was passed, a person found guilty of attempting to help an asylum could face up to a year in prison. Besides this legislation, Hungary constructed a border wall on the border it shares with Serbia and Croatia in 2015, the year when mass migration peaked in the EU.
Before this legislation was successfully passed, Viktor Orban failed to pass a constitutional amendment in 2016 that would have made it illegal for refugees to be resettled by the European Union within Hungary. It was proposed that 1,294 refugees would be placed in the country as the bloc was attempting to find a solution on how to help member states on the periphery deal with a large number of migrants arriving. This bill partially failed because Viktor Orban refused to ban foreigners with financial resources from buying 300,000-euro bonds which give them the ability to move to Hungary with a visa. This could be considered a golden visa, similar to golden passports offered by other member states such as Cyprus and Malta. The Jobbik party would have supported the constitutional amendment but refused to do so when Viktor Orban refused to stop selling the bonds. The European Union is concerned that this allows wealthy individuals around the world to claim EU citizenship and then move to other member states under the freedom of movement to carry out criminal activities.
Besides passing the Stop Soros legislation, in June of this year Orban proposed banning migration to Hungary for two years. It is suspected that this coincides with Prime Minister Orban attempting to rally support amongst his base of supporters before the next election which will happen next year. This appears to be important as opinion polls for 2021 have shown that Victor Orban’s Fidesz political party has remained close with the main opposition coalition. In order to hold onto power and win the next elections Orban will need a high turnout of his supporters and give them a reason to vote. It appears the legislation previously mentioned is the reason Orban has chosen this election cycle to motivate voters. Prime Minister Orban also stated that that the country should instate even stricter legislation on seeking asylum.
The problem for Prime Minister Orban now is that the European court of Justice, the highest court in the European Union ruled that this legislation infringes on EU law. Hungary must respect EU law as a member state of the bloc. A member state does not have to allow anyone without EU citizenship (third country nationals) to migrate to the country, but member states do have to allow people to apply for asylum. This is no guarantee however it will be granted, and if denied they will have to leave that member state. The problem in Hungary is that Prime Minister Orban and his ruling party attempted to strip people of the right to even apply for asylum.
The European Union also points out it is important to examine whether the countries these migrants were passing through would have been a safe country to apply for asylum. While these countries may not be the country they are potentially fleeing from, this does not necessarily guarantee they are safe either. Any country outside the borders of the European Union but considered safe to apply for asylum in is considered a safe third country. The problem is the European Commission and the member states seem to be at odds of what countries are considered safe third countries. In July 2015 Hungary adopted its own list of safe third countries which included all EU candidate countries. This would include Turkey and Serbia which many migrants would pass through before arriving in Hungary. As pointed out however, there are some problems with assuming that Serbia is a safe country, as it seems there is not a clear process in place to apply for asylum.
It is also worth pointing out that while Victor Orban claims to be concerned about migration to Hungary, it seems to be more of a concern about the right type of migration. Besides offering golden visas, Victor Orban also changed legislation on citizenship in order to allow ethnic Hungarians living in other European countries to move back. It can be argued he is no more aware of their intentions of living in Hungary than migrants from other countries. This did not stop him however from granting citizenship to an average 180,000 Hungarians annually between 2011 and 2016, which the proposed 1,294 refugees pales in comparison to these new citizens. This however has paid off politically for Orban. As soon as these ethnic-Hungarians living in other countries receive citizenship, they vote overwhelmingly in support of Orban in elections.
