EU top court legal advisor says criminalising migrant help against EU law

Human rights watchdogs hailed on Thursday European Court of Justice advocate general’s opinion that criminalisation of assistance to asylum-seekers violates EU law.

The Hungarian parliament adopted the “Stop Soros” package of laws in June 2018, on the basis of which the facilitation and support of illegal migration became an offence according to the country’s criminal code. 

The European Commission denounced the legislation and took Hungary to court in December 2019.

Advocate General Athanasios Rantos said the criminalisation constitutes an unjustified obstacle to the exercise of the rights guaranteed by EU law on assistance for applicants for international protection, advising EU judges to strike down the legislation. 

Although the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice is not bound by such opinions, for the most part, its final rulings follow the legal adviser’s lead.

Human rights watchdogs hailed the opinion. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, which previously pledged to continue providing assistance to asylum seekers regardless of the law, said the opinion was an "important step towards abolishing the infamous ‘Stop Soros’ act.”

The opinion is the latest in a series of legal rebukes of the EU’s judges concerning Hungary's migration policy. 

In December, justices said the Hungarian authorities’ practice of preventing people from seeking protection on their territory by forcibly returning them to Serbia, otherwise known as “pushbacks”, was illegal, though the practice still continues.

Earlier last spring, the Court ruled that the “transit zones” amounted to detention, prompting Hungary to close down these camps. (Vlagyiszlav Makszimov | EURACTIV.com with Telex)

In other news, Commission values and transparency chief Vera Jourova insisted on Wednesday that Hungary is an “ill, not illiberal democracy”, repeating her words from last fall that prompted the Hungarian government to demand her resignation and announce it would suspend “all political contacts” with her.

International spokesperson of the Hungarian government Zoltán Kovács took to Twitter to claim that Jourova “has denigrated democracy in Hungary, insulting our country and our people — and damaging the reputation of the Commission, which is to remain above politics.”

“She has done this repeatedly, demonstrating that she is unfit for her office,” Kovács added.(Vlagyiszlav Makszimov | EURACTIV.com with Telex)