BRUSSELS- Hungary is to lose 200 million euros (222.7 million dollars) in European Union funds, after Budapest missed a deadline to pay a fine for breaching EU asylum law, the European Commission said.
The EU’s top court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said the fine had since been imposed in June.
Budapest was given until Tuesday to pay the penalty but did not comply, the commission said on Wednesday.
“What we are going to do now is to deduct the 200 million euros from upcoming payments from the EU budget towards Hungary,’’ the spokesman said in Brussels.
The announcement was the latest in a series of reprimands for Hungary, where the nationalist government has often been criticised by the European Commission for its rigid refugee policy.
Back in June, the ECJ also ordered Hungary to pay a further one million euros per day for not implementing a previous ruling to change its asylum policies.
The commission sent a first payment request to Budapest to collect the unpaid daily penalties, it announced on Wednesday.
Budapest had been fined by the court for violating EU law, including restricting access to international protection procedures, the right of asylum applicants to remain in Hungary pending a final decision.
According to the spokesperson, the removal of illegally staying third-country nationals, the court said in a statement released in June.
European Court of Justice decisions are binding for the 27 member states of the EU.
The failure to implement the ECJ judgment constituted an unprecedented and extremely serious infringement of EU law, the court said at the time.
Budapest is deliberately evading the application of the EU common policy on international protection, it added. (dpa/NAN)
