Eastern Europe Leaders Buck EU Migrant Quotas: ‘We Will Never Accept’ Demands

Eastern European leaders have come out swinging against a mandate from the European Union to take in a certain number of migrants, saying they’ll never accept the quota system.

The backlash comes as Europe has been suffering under the hefty demands of mostly Muslim migrants and refugees who’ve flooded the borders — at the bequest and open-door welcome of liberal politicians.

Apparently, some in more conservative political circles — like Hungary and Slovakia — say they’ve reached the tipping point. And they’re telling EU leaders: No more migrants.

From the Express:

EASTERN European countries today launched a furious fightback against EU judges insisting they will “never” accept any ruling forcing them to accept migrant quotas.

In a sign of the growing schism between the region and Brussels Hungary and Slovakia launched scathing attacks on the European Court of Justice (ECJ) accusing it of political activism.

Yesterday the court’s advocate general, Yves Bot, issued an opinion urging judges to reject the two countries’ application to strike out the EU’s migrant resettlement programme.

Eurocrats want member states to resettle 160,000 refugees from Greece and Italy under a forced allocation system, which was voted through in 2015 despite opposition from Eastern countries.

Hungary and Slovakia, supported by Poland, refused to take in their share and instead launched a legal battle to try and prove that the system is a breach of their sovereignty.

But yesterday French official Mr Bot dealt that effort a serious blow with the publication of his recommendation, which raised eyebrows due to its highly political nature.

The advocate general accused the two countries of failing to show “solidarity” with other member states and said they were politically duty bound to a “fair sharing of burdens”.

But his opinion drew a furious response from Budapest and Bratislava, who vowed to carry on fighting the quota scheme and launched stinging attacks on the Luxembourg court.

A spokesman for Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico was unrepentant, fierily stating that the premier “reiterates that he will never accept any mandatory quotas”.

And Hungarian justice minister Pal Volner went on the attack against activist European judges, saying it would be “very sorry if the court decides to become part of the political process”.

He accused the EU of a deliberate attempt to “upset and jeopardise the European people’s peace and security as part of a forced process of unknown origin.”

And he raged: “The main elements of this statement are political, which are practically used to disguise the fact that there are no legal arguments in it.”

“Our legal position is unchanged. If the court bases its decision on the law then we will welcome it positively and we will be very sorry if the court decides to become part of the political process.”

In his opinion published yesterday, French official Mr Bot unequivocally stated that judges at the ECJ “should dismiss the actions brought by Slovakia and Hungary” when they come before them later this year.

He rejected claims by Hungary and Slovakia that the quota scheme should have been put to national parliaments, and not just decided by EU leaders, and that MEPs should have been handed a greater role in shaping it.

And the magistrate said the fact that the fact the decision was not adopted unanimously did not invalidate it, because the Commission did not object to amendments leaders had made to the initial proposal.