“The Government will not back down in the quota case and has also made this absolutely clear in its reply to the European Commission”, the Ministry of Justice’s Minister of State for European and International Judicial Cooperation declared at a press conference in Budapest on Wednesday.
Krisztián Kecsmár highlighted: “Hungary has previously attacked the quota resolution at the European Court of Justice and a ruling is expected in the case in early September, and accordingly it is questionable why the Commission had to launch infringement proceedings with regard to not conforming to the quota resolution without waiting for the ruling to be issued”.
“In its reply to the Commission’s opinion, the Government objected to the application of double standards and the unusually short deadline”, the Minster of State said.
“The Government mentioned double standards in its reply because despite the fact that practically no member state is conforming to the quota resolution, proceedings have only been launched against three of them”, he explained. “Member states that have voted to become involved in the quota case as parties with opposing interests are also not implementing the resolution, yet no infringement proceedings have been initiated against them”, he pointed out.
“The Government also objects to the fact that the infringements proceedings are being conducted within the framework of an urgent procedure, and although the resolution in question was issued almost two years ago and should have been implemented for two years, proceedings regarding non-compliance have only just been launched”, the Minister of State continued.
“The Government is committed to enforcing the will of the electorate”, Mr. Kecsmár stressed, adding: “National identity, sovereignty and the principle of equal treatment are fundamental values on which the EU is built”.