(ANSA-AFP) - BUDAPEST, FEB 25 - Hungary broke EU law by
criminalising efforts to help would-be refugees claim
protection, the European Curt of Justice's top legal adviser
said Thursday. The opinion of Advocate General Athanasios Rantos
is not binding on the judges hearing the case brought by the
European Commission against the Hungarian government. But it is
seen as highly influential, and points towards Prime Minister
Viktor Orban's anti-immigrant government once again falling foul
of European law. In 2018, Budapest brought in a law to refuse an
asylum application if the would-be refugee had crossed a safe
country on his or her way to Hungary. The ECJ has already ruled
this condition was illegal, but the Hungarian law also
criminalised efforts by lawyers to help such refugees seek
protection. "The criminalisation of those activities impinges on
the exercise of the rights guaranteed by the EU legislature,"
the advocate general said in his opinion. The ECJ will rule on
the case at a later date. (ANSA-AFP).
© Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved