Advocate General at the European Court of Justice Yves Bot has proposed to dismiss the lawsuits filed by Slovakia and Hungary against the proposal to relocate migrants from Greece and Italy based on mandatory quotas.
The quota mechanism, adopted in September 2015, proposed to relocate a total of 120,000 migrants. Under the plan, Hungary would temporarily take in 1,294 asylum-seekers and Slovakia would take in 902, the Associated Press (AP) newswire reported.
Slovakia officially submitted the lawsuit against the plan on December 2, 2015, complaining that the mandatory quotas were adopted over the resistance of several countries. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania have also voiced criticisms of the plan, the SITA newswire wrote.
Slovakia and Hungary in EU court over migrant quotas
“We claim that the decision approved by the Council of Interior Ministers is at odds with the European Council’s decision that the mandatory quotas will not be adopted,” Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said about the lawsuit, as quoted by SITA.
He considered the decision illegitimate, claiming that it violates the rights of the European Parliament and the national parliaments.
Bot, however, rejected arguments from Slovakia and Hungary regarding the legality of the relocation plan, saying that it “helps relieve the considerable pressure on the asylum systems of Italy and Greece”, the AP reported.
The relocation effort has had only limited success so far, he added.
The proposal to dismiss the lawsuits was issued on July 26 in Luxembourg and is non-binding. The court has started deliberating on the case, the AP reported.
26. Jul 2017 at 13:55 | Compiled by Spectator staff
