EU civil war erupts as rebel state to be deducted £168m | World | News

Hungary is to miss out on just under £168m from the European Union because Viktor Orbán’s government has continually ignored a fine imposed on it by the European court over its asylum policy.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) slapped the central European state with a €200m fine, with a deadline to be paid in late August.

Hungary missed the deadline, and then missed the second deadline – September 17 – triggering the European’s Commission “offsetting procedure”.

This means the Commission will substract the value of the fine from Hungary’s allocation of the EU budget.

The fine was originally imposed on Budapest because the Hungarian government requires asylum seekers to make their asylum claims in designated embassies outside of Hungary, in places like Kyiv or Belgrade, before they can enter the country.

Orbán’s government insists this policy is essential to ensuring his country’s security, but the ECJ found it contravened EU asylum rules.

Hungary has thus far ignored the fine the ECJ imposed over the matter.

“We’re moving to the ‘offsetting’ phase as of today,” a Commission spokesperson said on Wednesday.

“In theory, any payments can be looked at, and nothing is excluded, but obviously this will take a bit of time. We need to identify what’s coming up and identity payments that can absorb the fine concerned.”

Orbán has branded the fine “outrageous and acceptable” and instead said his government should be compensated €2billion for the work it has done on border security since 2015.

According to Euronews, the EU Commission has no interest in accepting this demand.

Orbán, in a recent radio interview, said: “We should not be punished but our achievements should be recognised and money should not be taken away from us but given to us so that we can continue this work. It is a matter of time.”

Simultaneously, Hungary is being fined €1 million a day until it amends its asylum rules.