Hungary next to seek EU asylum rules opt-out

BUDAPEST

Hungary has followed the Netherlands in seeking an opt-out from EU rules on asylum, a minister has said, as the country's nationalist leader Viktor Orban headed to European Parliament on Tuesday.

Last month, the Dutch government requested from Brussels an opt-out from the common asylum policy, though the European Commission replied it expected no "immediate changes."

The European treaties are binding agreements, and any exemptions can only be made with the agreement of all 27 EU member states.

The EU rules, adopted in May and to come into effect in 2026, aim to share hosting responsibilities across the 27-country bloc and to speed up deportations of those deemed ineligible to stay.

Budapest wrote to the EU's home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson on Oct. 7 requesting an exemption from the rules, Hungary's minister for European Union affairs, Janos Boka, said on Facebook.

"The Hungarian government is determined to take firm measures to protect its borders and curb illegal migration which threatens national security," Boka said in the letter posted on Facebook late on Oct. 7.

He added that "restoring stronger national control over migration" was "the only option" to curb "illegal migration."

Hungary frequently accuses the European Commission of fueling migration with its policies and standpoints.

In June, the European Court of Justice fined Hungary for failing to uphold international procedures for asylum seekers. The central European country has so far refused to pay the fine.

Orban heads to the European Parliament Tuesday for what promises to be a stormy face-to-face with EU lawmakers, midway through Budapest's norm-defying presidency of the bloc.