Orban Rejects EU Ruling on Asylum Seekers in New Test for Bloc

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Hungary won’t accept a ruling by the European Union’s top court that struck down his hard-line anti-immigration policy.

According to the verdict, Hungary can’t hold asylum seekers indefinitely in designated transit areas, hitting at the heart of efforts to shut borders to immigrants. Orban’s comments come as challenges to the legal foundations of the world’s largest trading bloc are intensifying.

“The European Court of Justice is trying to tackle Hungarian laws and the Hungarian constitution so that migrants can be brought to Hungary,” Orban told state radio on Friday. “They won’t succeed. It’s clear that if the EU court’s decision collides with Hungary’s constitution, as it appears to, than obviously Hungary’s constitution has primacy.”

Read more: EU Court Rejects Orban Asylum Policy in New Test of Bloc’s Unity

Orban spoke a week after Germany’s constitutional court said national tribunals may have a limited oversight role over the ECJ, casting doubt over the supremacy of EU law. Poland has also indicated it may reject EU court rulings. Both Hungary and Poland are facing EU probes over the erosion of the rule-of-law.

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