On Wednesday 14 June, the European Commission confirmed that it was opening infringement procedures against Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic on the subject of the relocation of asylum seekers and the decisions adopted in September 2015 that these three countries have still not begun to implement.
The European Commission sent a formal letter of notice to these three countries and has given them a one month deadline, contrary to the customary two months to respond to this first stage of the procedure. The 2015 decisions were made in response to the urgent situation and it is on this basis that the Commission decided to reduce the deadline by one month.
The Commission explained, “Despite the Commission's repeated calls for action, these three countries remain in breach of their legal obligations and have shown disregard for their commitments to Greece, Italy and other Member States. The Council Decisions require Member States to pledge available places for relocation every three months to ensure a swift and orderly relocation procedure. Whereas Hungary has not taken any action at all since the relocation scheme started, Poland has not relocated anyone and not pledged since December 2015. The Czech Republic has not relocated anyone since August 2016 and not made any new pledges for over a year”.
The Commission had previously announced in the 12th Relocation and Resettlement report presented on 16 May that those Member States that have not relocated anyone, or have not pledged for almost a year, breaching their legal obligations, should start doing so immediately and within a month. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have still not done anything to meet their legal obligations.
The Commission has therefore decided, “to launch infringement procedures and address letters of formal notice to these three Member States”.
Voice of protest at College of Commissioners
At the College of Commissioners, one voice was heard that criticised the decision to open these proceedings. The Czech Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, said on Twitter on Tuesday that these procedures “are not the right solution”.
Asked about this subject, the Commission explained on Wednesday that the Commissioner had been present the day before at the discussion and that this decision had been taken “unanimously”.
European Parliament satisfied
The unprecedented action taken by the Commission was widely welcomed in Parliament on Wednesday morning during a debate on the preparation of the European Council. The only exception was the ECR group, which is opposed to any form of sanctions on this subject.
During this debate, Jean-Claude Junker, explained that, “We didn’t have any other choice” other than to open these procedures. The Commission President said, “We have sent out the letters of formal notice” but that “this does not involve sanctions but it has been observed that the law has not been respected and it is our duty to begin procedures”.
Gianni Pittella (S&D, Italy), said, however, that these infringement procedures “are a little late”.
One Hungarian MEP, however, belonging to the extremist Jobbik Party, Krisztina Morvai, said that the Union wanted to “punish and weaken” Hungary “although we are defending the EU’s external borders”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with Mathieu Bion)