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Frontex suspends operations in Hungary over asylum system

January 27, 2021

It follows a European Court of Justice ruling on the illegality of Budapest's treatment of asylum seekers. The EU border agency made the announcement on Wednesday.

https://p.dw.com/p/3oV64
Hungarian transit zone
The ECJ ruled that Hungary violated EU law by making it virtually impossible for migrants to receive asylumImage: picture-alliance/AP Photo/MTI/S. Ujvari

Frontex, the European Union's (EU) border agency, announced on Wednesday that it had suspended all operations in Hungary over Budapest's treatment of asylum seekers. "Frontex has suspended all its operational activities on the ground in Hungary," as Chris Borowski, a spokesman for the Warsaw-based agency, confirmed to news agency AFP.

The move comes on the heels of a December ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) that was heavily critical of Hungary's asylum system. The court said that Hungary, an EU member state, had violated EU law by restricting access to asylum at its two national transit centers as well as limiting the number of those within them, making it virtually impossible for migrants to apply for asylum.

"After December's European Court of Justice ruling demanding Hungary stop pushbacks into Serbia, the suspension of Frontex border operations in Hungary is welcome," wrote European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson on Twitter.

Frontex also announced that it would be sending 20 agents to the Romanian-Serbian border on Thursday.

Refugees mistreated in Hungary

js/aw (AFP, AP, Reuters)