Philippe Close tells Euronews that Brussels will not be ‘held hostage’ by Viktor Orbán’s government.
Brussels mayor Philippe Close has censured Hungary’s plan to bus illegal migrants from the Hungarian-Serbian border to the Belgian capital, saying that the Belgian authorities stand ready to block the buses.
“I’ve spoken to the Belgian Prime Minister (Alexander de Croo). We will block these buses if they ever do depart,” Close said in an interview with Euronews.
Close added he believed Hungary’s plan to offer migrants a “one-way ticket” to Brussels is nothing more than an empty threat.
“These buses will not leave (Hungary) in my opinion. It’s clearly a provocation. Let’s be very clear, they would first need to pass through other European borders, Germany’s and our own,” the Brussels mayor, who hails from the Belgian Socialist Party, said.
The Belgian Secretary of State for Migration, Nicole de Moor, has also vowed to send the buses back if they were ever to leave Hungary.
“This is not how we do politics,” Close told Euronews. “Hungary, if it continues, will feel the consequences.”
“Orbán’s government is also a small government. We will resist and Hungary will buckle under the weight of Europe (…) We will not be held hostage to a far-right government like Orbán’s.”
The European Commission has denounced the plans as a potential breach of EU law and vowed retaliatory action. “We are standing ready to use all our powers under the treaty to ensure that the EU law is respected,” a Commission spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The spokesperson added that the EU executive is in contact with the Hungarian authorities and neighbouring countries through which the convoys could pass overland.
The spat is another low point in relations between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government and the Brussels-based European institutions, which has also drawn fierce condemnations from the Belgian government.
Budapest’s proposal, first made in August, is seen as a retaliation for a €200 million fine imposed on Hungary by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in June for measures it introduced in 2020 to restrict the right to asylum.
The Court also ordered Hungary to pay an additional €1 million per day until it brings its asylum policies into line with EU law.
Hungary has so far refused to pay that fine, which could be deducted from its share of EU funds if the government continues to dig in its heels.
Orbán has denounced the fine as “outrageous,” claiming Brussels is prioritising “illegal migrants” over European citizens.
Hungary accuses bloc of ‘double standards’
Close condemned Hungary’s divisive political provocations at a time when it holds the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU and tasked with “finding consensus.”
On Tuesday, Gergely Gulyás, minister to Prime Minister Orbán’s office, told reporters in Budapest that the government was planning to offer to “those who receive political asylum” a “free, one-way trip to Brussels based on their voluntary decision.”
This contradicts claims from Hungarian officials that “illegal migrants” would be bussed to Brussels.
No bus transfers have yet taken place and it’s unclear when they will happen, if at all.
But Hungary’s State Secretary Bence Rétvári has unveiled the convoy of buses Hungary claims will transport the migrants from the Hungarian border village of Röszke to Brussels.
Euronews has reached out to the Hungarian Interior Minister with a series of questions about the announced scheme but has not received an answer yet.
Rétvári accused the EU of “double standards” for fining Hungary for what it considers to be measures to secure the EU’s external borders while “other countries can close theirs freely,” in a nod to the German government’s decision to impose temporary border restrictions in order to get a grip on irregular arrivals.
