On Monday 17 July, the European Commission announced that it had received the replies from Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary to the formal letter of notice it had sent to each of these countries on 14 June regarding decisions taken in 2015 affecting asylum seeker resettlement which these three countries have failed to apply (see EUROPE 11808).
The Commission gave them a month to reply and will now carefully analyse these responses, explained Margaritis Schinas, the Commission’s spokesperson. The Commission, however, refused to provide any timetable, for example, involving the discussions at the College of Commissioners. According to one European source, the Commission may just simply make an announcement when it has decided on the next steps to follow.
At first glance, however, the arguments of these three countries against the resettlement of asylum seekers does not appear to have changed much, according our same diplomatic source, who also suggested that the Commission may have grounds for launching the second stage of the infringement procedure, namely, a reasoned opinion. Nonetheless, over the next 10 days or so, the Advocate General at the European Court of Justice may also reach his conclusions in the case involving Hungary and Slovakia and asylum seeker relocation. Our same source did not explain, however, what impact these conclusions were likely to have on the Commission’s action.
On 26 July, the Advocate General is due to say whether the decision made by these two countries to contest the second resettlement decision involving 120,000 asylum seekers adopted by qualified majority voting in September 2015, is legal. Hungary and Slovakia disputed the grounds of this decision and argued that the EU was not allowed to force these countries to take in asylum seekers into their countries. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)