43 asylum seekers return to Italy, court to await ECJ preliminary ruling
Italian authorities brought 43 asylum seekers back to the country from offshore processing centers in Albania on Friday, following a ruling by the Court of Appeal of Rome. The Court of Appeal has suspended the detention of 43 asylum seekers in Albania, awaiting a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) following a reference [...]
The European Commission on Thursday referred Hungary to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over the country’s Sovereignty Protection Act, alleging the law violates fundamental EU principles. The Sovereignty Protection Act has been in force since December 2023. The legislation established an independent Sovereignty Protection Office (SPO), with the power to investigate and penalize organizations [...]
Hungary and the Netherlands request opt-out from EU asylum regulations
Hungary and the Netherlands announced on Thursday that they are requesting an opt-out from EU asylum procedure regulations so that they can maintain control of their own asylum policies. In a post on X, Hungary’s Minister for European Affairs Janos Boka noted that they will take the necessary legal steps, while remaining a committed member [...]
Temporary border controls at Germany’s northern and western borders went into effect on Monday, subjecting all of Germany’s land borders to random inspections as part of an effort to combat cross-border crime and limit irregular migration. The new regulations require travelers to carry valid identification when entering Germany. Non-EU nationals must meet German immigration requirements to [...]
Hungary may seek to file a lawsuit against the European Union for border protection costs, Gergely Gulyás, Hungarian minister for the Prime Minister’s Office, announced this Thursday. Gulyás claimed that Hungary spent the equivalent of 2 billion euros on Schengen Zone border protection without recompense from the European Union. The minister said that Hungary was [...]
ECJ ruling upholds €2.4B fine against Google and orders Apple to pay €13B in tax
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued two rulings on Tuesday, imposing a €2.4 billion fine on Google for abuse of its dominant market position and ordering Apple to repay Ireland €13 billion in tax. The court upheld the European General Court’s judgment and the European Commission’s decision to impose the fine against Google in [...]
Hungary on Friday confirmed its intention to send migrants to Brussels in protest of European Union (EU) rules on accepting asylum seekers. Rétvári Bence, Hungary’s deputy minister of interior, held a press conference flanked by buses to affirm the country’s plan to provide free fare for migrants on the bus route to the EU’s capital. [...]
Hungary misses deadline to pay €200M ECJ fine for asylum law violations
Hungary on Tuesday missed the first deadline to pay a €200 million European Court of Justice (ECJ) fine imposed in the case Commission v. Hungary in 2020. The fine was levied by the ECJ over Hungary’s failure to comply with EU asylum regulations. In response to the missed deadline, the European Commission issued a second [...]
ECJ declares the mandatory inclusion of fingerprints on ID cards legal under EU law
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Thursday that the mandatory inclusion of fingerprints on identity cards is in contravention of the fundamental rights of respect for private life and the protection of personal data. The ECJ noted that the requirement to get fingerprints recorded is intrinsic for issuing identity cards as it will [...]
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled Thursday in M.H. and S.B. v. Hungary that Hungarian authorities violated Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights by arbitrarily detaining two minors who crossed the Hungarian border in 2016. Hungarian authorities detained the minors for about three and two months, respectively. The first minor was [...]
