EU opens legal case against Warsaw, Budapest and Prague over migration

[webfact]

EU opens legal case against Warsaw, Budapest and Prague over migration

By Gabriela Baczynska and Alastair Macdonald

 

FILE PHOTO: A barbed wire is seen in front of a European Union flag at an immigration reception centre in Bicske, Hungary June 25, 2015. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

 

BRUSSELS/STRASBOURG (Reuters) - The European Commission launched a legal case on Tuesday against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for refusing to take in asylum seekers, ratcheting up a bitter feud within the 28-nation bloc about how to deal with migration.

 

The eurosceptic, nationalist-minded governments in Poland and Hungary have refused to take in anyone under a plan agreed by a majority of EU leaders in 2015 to relocate migrants from frontline states Italy and Greece to help ease their burden.

 

The Czech Republic, another ex-communist central European state, initially accepted 12 people but has since said it would not welcome more.

 

"I regret to see that, despite our repeated calls to pledge to relocate, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland have not yet taken the necessary action," the EU's migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, told a news conference.

 

He said the Commission was therefore launching so-called infringement procedures against the three, a way for the executive arm to take to task countries that fail to meet their obligations. It opens the way for months, even years, of legal wrangling before a top EU court could potentially impose fines.

 

"From the political point of view, this action ... unnecessarily heats up political tensions, of which there are already too many in the European Union," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski told state TV on Tuesday.

 

"If necessary, Poland is ready to defend its legal arguments in court."

 

At stake in the dispute is the bloc's unity, already tested by Britain's unprecedented decision to leave, weak economies and higher support for eurosceptic parties across the EU.

 

Beyond its borders, the EU is also facing a resurgent Russia and a tricky new relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.

But two years of arm-wrestling have so far produced no results and EU leaders are unlikely to be able to break the impasse when they discuss the matter next week in Brussels.

 

"The Czech Republic does not agree with the system of relocation," Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said in response.

"With regard to the worsened security situation in Europe and dysfunctionality of the quota system, it will not participate in it."

 

In a separate legal battle on the matter, Hungary and Slovakia have challenged the relocation agreement in a top EU court, with an initial indication of the ruling due next month.

 

TARNISHED UNITY

 

The easterners justify their stance on asylum seekers by citing security concerns, noting a series of militant Islamist attacks in western Europe since late 2015. The bulk of refugees come from the mainly Muslim Middle East and North Africa.

 

Their resistance to what they present as pressure from Brussels also earns them credit with eurosceptic voters at home.

 

Many other EU states have also dragged their feet over taking in refugees, with fewer than 21,000 people relocated from Italy and Greece so far under a plan that had been due to cover 160,000 people.

 

Wealthier EU states including Italy - now the main gateway to Europe for African migrants and refugees - have threatened to reduce generous development funds earmarked to help the easterners close the gap in living standards.

 

The Commission is backed in the feud by Germany and Sweden, countries that took in most of the people who arrived in the EU. They have been mounting pressure on the vehement easterners over recent weeks and months but to no result so far.

 

Brussels' confidence has been boosted by ardently pro-EU French President Emmanuel Macron's victory over eurosceptics and nationalists, which gave the EU a renewed confidence a year after Brexit thrust it into an existential crisis.

 

But Avramopoulos said the timing of the decision came after the executive had been warning governments for months to change tack and had simply "exhausted all options" with the holdouts. An EU official said that despite its legal challenge, Slovakia had heeded the call to take in refugees and so escaped sanction.

 

After more than a million migrants and refugees reached the EU in 2015, mostly via Greece, Brussels sealed an accord with non EU-member Turkey that sharply cut the overall number of arrivals, though the deal was criticised by rights groups.

 

Italy remains under pressure, but the EU treats the vast majority of the 64,000 people who made it to Italian shores this year as migrants - rather than refugees requiring legal protection - and does not plan to let them stay.

 

The internal EU dispute over relocating asylum-seekers is a political one about values, as Avramopoulos stressed in his renewed appeal to the easterners.

 

"Europe is not only about requesting funds or ensuring security. Europe is also about sharing difficult moments and challenges," he said.

 

(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Miles in Brussels, Robert Muller in Prague and Marcin Goettig in Warsaw, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-06-14

[tracker1]

I say Good on them for refusing to take Asylum seekers look at the problems these ungratefull refugees are causing in most the countries their in . Ans as for the EU their as bad as the UN why should they dictate to what a country wished to do !

 

[darksidedog]

The UK voted to leave the EU, largely down to immigration issues. If countries like Poland, Hungary and the Czech republic won't take their refugees as required by the EU, cut off their EU funding and invite them to leave also. It strikes me they are only there for the benefits, but won't pull their weight.

[Rigby40]

It's truly refreshing to know that somewhere in Europe there's still fragments of backbone to be found. Love it.

[Khun Han]

Oh, splendid!!! EU countries have to take low grade migrants under orders from the EU. I believe the UK's quota was 300,000. Yes, that's three hundred thousand, you read it correctly.. A Merkle-inspiredl polcy. For those of you who don't fully understand this, this isn't EU migrants. It's migrants from countries which are loaded to the gills with islamic extremiststs. Great, isn't it?

Edited June 14, 2017 by Khun Han

[baboon]

What is the point of any legal case? The countries involved don't want the migrants and the migrants don't want to go there anyway, not with the German nirvana just down the road.

[bristolgeoff]

they don,t  want them either we  don,t want them and are getting out.europe  is finished now

[boomerangutang]

Some of the countries which won't take any migrants from Middle East failed states:

 

China, Russia, former USSR states, both Koreas, Thailand, and many others

 

Added to that, nearly every Muslim country similarly won't take fellow Muslim migrants.

 

                       I can't fault the EU countries for doing similar.  They can see what's happening in Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France and UK, where massive influxes of Muslim migrants have contributed to serious problems.

[boomerangutang]

11 minutes ago, baboon said:

What is the point of any legal case? The countries involved don't want the migrants and the migrants don't want to go there anyway, not with the German nirvana just down the road.

Good point.  If I was a migrant from the M.East or North Africa, I'd want to get my skinny buns to Germany or Sweden.   Might as well aim for places which offer a warm space to sleep, 3 meals a day, free winter clothes, free education, safety, perhaps even a job - .....maybe even a sweet fraulein willing to marry!  Added bonus points, if the marriage partner is from a well-to-do family which takes pity on me and give me lots of money.

[stevenl]

41 minutes ago, boomerangutang said:

Some of the countries which won't take any migrants from Middle East failed states:

 

China, Russia, former USSR states, both Koreas, Thailand, and many others

 

Added to that, nearly every Muslim country similarly won't take fellow Muslim migrants.

 

                       I can't fault the EU countries for doing similar.  They can see what's happening in Sweden, Germany, Belgium, France and UK, where massive influxes of Muslim migrants have contributed to serious problems.

Which is not the issue.

 

They are not meeting EU agreements, so something has to be done about that. Either meet the agreements or face consequences, which IMO could go as far as being kicked out.

[boomerangutang]

2 hours ago, stevenl said:

Which is not the issue.

They are not meeting EU agreements, so something has to be done about that. Either meet the agreements or face consequences, which IMO could go as far as being kicked out.

EU won't kick any members out. It's desperate to keep all the members it has.  At worst, it may enact sanctions against countries which it deems are not holding up to EU agreements.

[notmyself]

1 hour ago, boomerangutang said:

EU won't kick any members out. It's desperate to keep all the members it has.  At worst, it may enact sanctions against countries which it deems are not holding up to EU agreements.

 

They will likely fine them a little bit allowing the countries to just roll with the punch. France has been doing the same thing (rolling with the punch) for what must be 2 decades by over subsidizing their agriculture industry. The cost to other nations such as Belgium and the Netherlands is worth billions of Euros so it makes perfect financial sense to just pay the 60 million Euro fine. They have tried a couple of times though not for a long long time but the Farmers and truck drivers go to Paris and shut it down by blocking all the roads after which the government back down.

[stevenl]

1 hour ago, boomerangutang said:

EU won't kick any members out. It's desperate to keep all the members it has.  At worst, it may enact sanctions against countries which it deems are not holding up to EU agreements.

Very likely, yes.

 

The core of what I was saying though is: you're a member of the EU, so stick to the EU rules. If not, there are consequences.

[ilostmypassword]

2 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

EU won't kick any members out. It's desperate to keep all the members it has.  At worst, it may enact sanctions against countries which it deems are not holding up to EU agreements.

It doesn't seem all that desperate to keep the UK in. And unlike the countries in question, the UK contributes more to the EU than it takes.  Maybe this is a good opportunity for the UK to pare down its size.

[Khun Han]

1 hour ago, stevenl said:

Very likely, yes.

 

The core of what I was saying though is: you're a member of the EU, so stick to the EU rules. If not, there are consequences.

 

Who in the EU sticks to the rules all the time? I'll tell you. Only one country: the UK.

[stevenl]

1 minute ago, Khun Han said:

 

Who in the EU sticks to the rules all the time? I'll tell you. Only one country: the UK.

Total nonsense.

[Baerboxer]

12 hours ago, baboon said:

What is the point of any legal case? The countries involved don't want the migrants and the migrants don't want to go there anyway, not with the German nirvana just down the road.

 

The real point is the EU commission flexing it's muscles, or trying to, to show countries that not towing the line will not go unpunished.

 

This whole migrant issue has been a cock up. First why were Greece and Italy not enforcing the EU's borders? (Both are not known for strong competent security and both have been used as easy entries for terrorists in the past?). If they needed financial or resources help then the other member states could be required to provide contributions.

There was a failure, a big failure, to clearly identify between genuine asylum seeking refugees and economic migrants trying to benefit from the circumstances. Those that weren't real refugees should have been returned quickly and others blocked. Allowing them to stay, for any period, encourages far more.

Merkel undoubtedly made it worse with her declaration of open doors to Germany. She fell foul of her own party, the German parliament and the German electorate, none of which she consulted before making her offer. She wouldn't backtrack or loose face so her quota idea, forcing others to clean up the mess, and share responsibility for something she alone made much worse was supported by her puppet Juncke.

 

This is a test for the EU commission to see if it can be the conduit for German authority over the poorer East European states. It could be argued that a majority of member states accepted the proposed Quota System and so therefore they should all accept the majority view. That will be a mechanism for buying of votes by the richer countries and fit with Merkel's threat of 2 tier EU.

[baboon]

3 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

The real point is the EU commission flexing it's muscles, or trying to, to show countries that not towing the line will not go unpunished.

 

This whole migrant issue has been a cock up. First why were Greece and Italy not enforcing the EU's borders? (Both are not known for strong competent security and both have been used as easy entries for terrorists in the past?). If they needed financial or resources help then the other member states could be required to provide contributions.

There was a failure, a big failure, to clearly identify between genuine asylum seeking refugees and economic migrants trying to benefit from the circumstances. Those that weren't real refugees should have been returned quickly and others blocked. Allowing them to stay, for any period, encourages far more.

Merkel undoubtedly made it worse with her declaration of open doors to Germany. She fell foul of her own party, the German parliament and the German electorate, none of which she consulted before making her offer. She wouldn't backtrack or loose face so her quota idea, forcing others to clean up the mess, and share responsibility for something she alone made much worse was supported by her puppet Juncke.

 

This is a test for the EU commission to see if it can be the conduit for German authority over the poorer East European states. It could be argued that a majority of member states accepted the proposed Quota System and so therefore they should all accept the majority view. That will be a mechanism for buying of votes by the richer countries and fit with Merkel's threat of 2 tier EU.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but now what? Let's say Poland for example caves in and takes 5000 migrants. That is 5000 more than Poland wants and 5000 resentful people. Now Poland might be able to contain this, but it is difficult to see how this model is a recipe for success, not least because more and more are arriving all the time. And then? '

'I dunno, but it will be alright on the night' simply isn't washing. Another interesting thing of note is that the 'These people are doctors, teachers, engineers with the vital skills we need' argument has been quietly dropped. It's a very worrying turn of events for those without motorcades, an exclusive address, or a 24 hour security detail.

[howard ashoul]

Oh, finally reason to be proud to be from Czech!

 

But I know more than well, that my pride will last only as long, as I won't read our local news, about what's new over there. 

[Khun Han]

10 hours ago, stevenl said:

Total nonsense.

Nope. Fact.