Poland and Hungary fail in their fight to reverse the fines of 20,000 euros for not welcoming migrants

The governments of the radical right of Poland and Hungary have failed this Friday in their attempt to reverse the minimum agreement reached by the EU on June 8 on the Migration and Asylum Pact. The pact provides for the creation of a permanent mechanism for the distribution of migrants in order to alleviate the pressure suffered by front-line countries at the external border, such as Spain, Italy or Greece.

The mechanism will be voluntary, but Member States that refuse to accept migrants will have to pay a penalty of 20,000 euros per person that corresponds to them.

The EU Interior Ministers approved this agreement by a qualified majority (as provided for in Community law), with the only votes against Poland and Hungary and abstention from Bulgaria, Malta, Slovakia and Lithuania.

[La UE impondrá multas de 20.000€ por persona a los países que no acepten el nuevo reparto migratorio]

However, the Prime Ministers of Poland, Mateusz Morawieckiand from Hungary, Viktor Orbanhave tried to reverse this agreement by taking it to the European Council that concluded this Friday in Brussels, where the decisions are made by consensus and not by qualified majority.

Morawiecki and Orbán have raised a pulse to the rest of the European leaders with their demand for amend the conclusions of the summit on migration, calling for a return to decisions by consensus in this area. But the other heads of state and government have not given in to the blackmail of Poland and Hungary.

“In the case of Ukraine, Poland has received little support, several dozen euros per refugee. But if we reject migrants from the Middle East, we are going to be fined 20,000 euros or more for each migrant“, complained the Polish prime minister. The Government of Law and Justice intends to call a referendum in Poland on this issue.

“The European Union wants to create ‘immigrant ghettos’forcing Hungary to accept up to tens of thousands of migrants a year, but the government will fight against this scandalous coup procedure,” said Viktor Orbán.

The fight between Morawiecki and Orbán caused the first day of the European Council to last until one in the morning on Thursday and Friday and conclude without agreement. This Friday, the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who belongs to the same political family as Morawiecki but does support the distribution mechanism, has tried to act as a mediator. Unsuccessfully.

In the end, European leaders have preferred run out of common conclusions on migration rather than accept the demands of Warsaw and Budapest. In any case, the text has been published in the format of “Conclusions of the President of the European Council”, noting that only Poland and Hungary are against it.

The Spanish presidency will now lead the final negotiations of the Migration and Asylum Pact with the European Parliament. Without directly naming Poland and Hungary, the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezhas criticized the “blindness” of the countries that have vetoed the conclusions and has been convinced that the final agreement will be closed before the end of the year.