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Hungary’s Orban Asks EU to End Lawsuits, Citing Border Crisis

Hungary’s Orban Asks EU to End Lawsuits, Citing Border Crisis

Prime Minister Viktor Orban called on the European Union to withdraw lawsuits targeting Hungary’s asylum procedures, saying the border crisis on the bloc’s eastern borders has given way to a “new reality.”

EU leaders have accused the authorities in Belarus of engaging in a “hybrid attack” against the bloc by channeling refugees toward toward the bloc’s frontier in retaliation for EU sanctions imposed after a brutal crackdown on political opponents. 

“In light of the urgent and severe crisis, I ask the Commission to propose adapting the legal framework to the new realities and most urgently, discontinue enforcing the obsolete and obstructive regulations in place and suspend all infringement procedures that undermine Member States’ actions,” Orban wrote in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg.

The European Commission has requested daily fines against Hungary for the government’s failure to comply with an EU Court of Justice ruling on the treatment of asylum seekers.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.