The European Commission has proposed fining countries that refuse to accept refugees at a rate of approximately $300,000 per rejection, in an effort to ensure that all European Union member states share the burden of mass migration.
The proposed change is set to be released Wednesday and represents a desperate attempt by European Union officials in Brussels to keep the collapsing asylum system intact, Financial Times reports.
Officials have proposed a figure which works out to about $287,900 dollars, though that number may fluctuate over the next few days after negotiations.
One official told Financial Times the fine is basically a sanction on countries who refuse to cooperate with the EU’s migrant settlement agenda.
“The size of the contribution may change but the idea is to make it appear like a sanction,” the official said.
The commission’s proposed regulation comes at a time when Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has remained defiantly opposed to migrants streaming into Europe. In late 2015, Hungary built a large fence on its southern border to keep refugees from coming into the country via Serbia. This effort has been tremendously successful. Just two weeks after it was installed, the number of migrants coming in plummeted. Refugees who manage to breach the fence are by and large picked up by the Hungarian security services, as part of a continuing effort to carve out as much sovereignty as possible while still maintaining membership in the EU.
Orban pledged in a Sunday interview with Expresso that no one will force Hungary to accept migrants. Orban does not believe that a wave of migrants will fix either demographic or economic issues.
His solution is to place all refugee centers outside of the EU and to abandon any sort of refugee quota system.
“We have sent money to the Turks and Hungarian border guards to Greece. We are ready for anything, except being part of the scheme,” he said in the interview. “All rules and laws must be respected and if somebody wants to come to Hungary, they must go to an official border crossing and present their identification documents. Those who try to enter Hungary in another way commit a crime.”
Leaders in Hungary and Poland are likely to throw major objections to sanctions.
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