Orban twists the facts
In an interview with Germany's tabloid Bild, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban once again challenged the EU.
Orban insisted that his country need not adhere to a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), a ruling he termed "shameful." He is wrong. Of course, Hungary and Poland, Germany and all the other EU member states must adhere to the rulings.
Read more: Orban tells Germany: 'You wanted the migrants, we didn't'
Fake news
If they didn't, that would undermine the EU's legal basis, its foundation. A union isn't a union unless all its members follow the constitutional principles.
Viktor Orban knows that, too. He's wrong to dismiss as irrelevant the ruling that forces his country to take in refugees transferred from Greece and Italy. The allocation of refugees confirmed by the ECJ was limited to two years, and ended in September 2017. All the same, it must be implemented – that's what the judgement stipulates.
Viktor Orban knows that, too. In his interview with Bild, he claimed the opposite. A populist's fake news.
The general refusal to allow Muslim refugees to enter Hungary because, as he put it, they are all "invaders," is utter nonsense. The refugees in question are Syrians who fled the civil war, and asylum-seekers whose right to protection has already been established by authorities in Greece or Italy. They are the only ones accepted to the EU-wide allocation scheme. At this point in time, the scheme only covers a few hundred people. Most likely, Viktor Orban knows that, too. Unfortunately, however, populist airs score him points with the Hungarian people who seem to reject Muslims as a rule.
The Hungarian Prime Minister deliberately lumps together refugees, asylum-seekers and illegal migrants, roundly refusing to take in neither one nor the other – pure populism that has little to do with reality. The EU is by no means forcing Hungary to take in migrants that don't stand a chance to asylum, and neither is the ECJ. The ruling was only about people whose status of asylum had already been guaranteed.
Read more: Poland, Hungary: EU migration policy has failed
Ongoing debate
It's time for a new debate, demands the Hungarian twister of facts.
He's right. For the past two years, the EU has debated reforming the procedure by which asylum-seekers and refugees are accepted to and allocated within the EU. But Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have blocked any agreement because they refuse to show solidarity in the allocation of refugees according to a quota, even in emergency situations.
Solidarity according to Viktor Orban is doing what he thinks is advantageous.
That must change. Orban doesn't mind taking aid money from Brussels. That is a form of solidarity the net contributors – Germany is at the top of that list – should urgently rethink. 2018 offers a good opportunity to do so: this summer, the EU will be not only be arguing about migration policies, but also at some point deciding on its future financial framework.