The European Court of Justice on Thursday fined Hungary €200 million for breaking the EU’s asylum laws and ignoring an earlier judgment.
The Luxembourg court first ruled in December 2020 that Hungary had failed to comply with the bloc’s rules on the treatment of migrants by “unlawfully detaining” asylum seekers and deporting them before they could appeal the rejection of their applications, ordering Budapest to make changes to its policies.
Hungary ignored the judgment, which the ECJ described in a statement on Thursday as “deliberately evading the application of the EU common policy.”
Budapest’s inaction “constitutes an unprecedented and exceptionally serious breach of EU law,” the court said.
Along with the €200 million fine, Hungary will be fined an additional €1 million per day that it fails to comply with the court’s judgment. If Budapest refuses to pay the fines, they can be deducted from its share of the EU budget, as was the case with Poland.
“It seems that illegal migrants are more important to the Brussels bureaucrats than their own European citizens,” he added.
Hungary has taken a hard line on asylum seekers entering the country, with Orbán’s government passing a law in 2020 forcing migrants to first apply for protection at embassies outside its borders.
<p><img width="900" height="440" src="https://www.naijanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Jimoh-Ibrahim.jpg" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://www.naijanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Jimoh-Ibrahim.jpg 900w, https://www.naijanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Jimoh-Ibrahim-300x147.jpg 300w, https://www.naijanews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Jimoh-Ibrahim-768x375.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px" /></p>
<h2>The lawmaker representing Ondo South senatorial district, <a href="https://www.naijanews.com/topic/jimoh-ibrahim/">Jimoh Ibrahim</a>, has declared his intention to contest in the governorship election in Ondo State.</h2>
<p>Ibrahim who noted that he is ready to contest, said the death of a former governor of the state, Rotimi Akeredolu, will enhance his chances of becoming the next governor.</p>
<p>The lawmaker, on Thursday, expressed optimism that there would be no imposition of a candidate from the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress and the Presidency.</p>
<p>Ibrahim, who spoke in Akure, the state capital, said President Bola Tinubu would allow a free and fair primary to enable the best candidate to emerge.</p>
<p>He said,<em> “I’m declaring my intention to run for the governorship election of Ondo State. Among the contestants, I am the oldest. I have contested election twice in my lifetime, one of which I contested for governorship position in 2003, and none of these contestants was on that ballot.</em></p>
<p><em>“The President will never say that we should go and work for the incumbent governor. He can only appeal that maybe he prefers one person if you can prefer him and if you cannot, go and do your election. So the President cannot say that I have taken this person so all of you should go and sit down. Even Buhari who is very clueless about anything can never do that.”</em></p>
<p>The APC governorship aspirant also noted that the death of former Governor Rotimi Akeredolu would not affect his chances but would rather increase the chance of winning the primary and the main election.</p>
<p>He further stated, <em>“Maybe the death of Aketi has enhanced my chances because Aketi is a human being, he can be subjectively objective at the last minute. But now that he is no more, that possibility is written off completely. So whoever is there, wants to run for governor will meet me at the field.</em></p>
<p><em>“So Aketi’s death doesn’t affect my chances at all, but it would rather enhance my chances to win the governorship position of this state. So we are working seriously to win this election."</em></p>
<p>He noted that economy and security were part of his cardinal programmes for the state, saying there was a need to empower the state Security Network Agency also known as Amotekun with modern technology to enable it to combat criminals effectively.</p>
<p>Ibrahim said, <em>“My programmes are very straightforward, we are to create moral efficiency and moral knowledge and make the body more efficient. We must also map Ondo State borders for a security network and then ensure that we will never have any cases of kidnapping, by making Amotekun a classic unique security outfit that will come with a good strategy to challenge any security issues in our state.</em></p>
<p><em>“So one of the areas we are looking at is to ensure that everybody in Ondo state can go to sleep with their eyes closed and that’s top most of our priority. Mapping every systems, the tactical operations of Amotekun have to come more distinct into technology, I want an Amotekun that is Information Technology informed because I have PhD in war."</em></p>
<p>As the primary of the political parties in the state is drawing nearer, many aspirants of the APC have shown their interest in the contest.</p>
<p>Some of them, apart from Jimoh Ibrahim, include the incumbent governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa, a former Commissioner for Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa, a former Member of the House of Representatives Mr Mayowa Akinfolarin, the former Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Oladunni Odu (who is only the female among the aspirants), a former governorship aspirant of the APC, Chief Olusola Oke, Dr Paul Akintelure, Brig-Gen Olamide Ohunyeye (retd), among others.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.naijanews.com/2024/02/08/akeredolus-death-will-enhance-my-chances-of-becoming-ondo-governor-jimoh-ibrahim/">Akeredolu’s Death Will Enhance My Chances Of Becoming Ondo Governor – Jimoh Ibrahim</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.naijanews.com">Naija News</a>.</p>
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