Not having to bother much with legislative negotiating, senior EU bureaucrats have a pretty free hand to do as they please.

One thing it pleased them to do this week was punish Hungary for being mean to so-called ”asylum seekers”: putting them in detention, violating their right to appeal, even—oh good Lord!—even deporting them.

The EU-crats have fined Hungary a lump sum of (translated from euros) 186 million dollars with, in addition, 930 thousand dollars a day to be paid until Hungary complies with EU ”asylum” rules. The money will be automatically subtracted from Hungary’s share of the EU budget.

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is of course furious. Quote from him:

It seems that illegal migrants are more important to the Brussels bureaucrats than their own European citizens.

ECJ fines Hungary with €200 million over ’extremely serious’ breach of EU asylum law , euronews.com, June 13, 2024

Yes, Mr. Prime Minister: that is indeed how it seems, because that’s how it is.