Refugees Daily - Internal Global Press Review

Luxembourg (dpa) – The Hungarian right-wing government is facing another defeat at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) because of its restrictive migration policy.

Advocate General Priit Pikamae on Thursday found that significant parts of Hungary's asylum policy violate European Union law, including the country's law on the return of migrants.

In particular, Budapest does not provide effective access to asylum, the opinion stated in the report, which in part refers to previous Hungarian rules.

There may be exceptions to the application of the returns directive for migrants who are picked up at or near the border. However, Hungary applies this exception to all third-country nationals illegally residing in the country. They are returned without being able to apply for asylum.

In the – since closed – transit camps, the right to asylum was also not guaranteed, Pikamae found.

This point concerns those camps on the border with Serbia that the government recently closed down after an ECJ judgement. In mid-May, the ECJ ruled that detaining asylum seekers in the Roszke transit camp violated EU law.

Pikamae also considers the asylum procedure on the border with Serbia, which was valid until recently, to be illegal.

Hungary has been pursuing a policy of isolation and deterrence of refugees and migrants under Prime Minister Viktor Orban for years.

The ECJ has intervened several times. In this case, the court was responding to a complaint by the European Commission.

The opinions of the advocates general are not binding for the ECJ judges, but they tend not to deviate from them. A ruling is likely to be made within the coming months.