European Court rejects demands of Hungary and Slovakia to abolish migration quota system

Baku. 6 September. REPORT.AZ/ The EU's top court has rejected a demands of Hungary and Slovakia to a migrant relocation deal drawn up at the height of the crisis in 2015, Report informs citing the BBC.

Hungary has not accepted a single asylum seeker since the measures were introduced two years ago. They were an attempt to ease the pressure on frontline countries such as Greece and Italy.

Only 28,000 people have actually been relocated under the scheme. In September that year, European leaders agreed to spread a total of 160,000 asylum seekers among member states over two years.

Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Romania voted against the quotas.

In asking the court to annul the deal, Hungary and Slovakia argued at the Court of Justice that there were procedural mistakes, and that quotas were not a suitable response to the crisis.

Their case was supported by Poland, where a right-wing government has come to power since the 2015 deal.

But it was rejected by the ECJ which argued that the agreement "actually contributes to enabling Greece and Italy to deal with the impact of the 2015 migration crisis and is proportionate".

The court's ruling is final and cannot be appealed.

Meanwhile, however, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic can also face judicial measures by the EU executive, the European Commission, for their inaction over the relocation of asylum seekers.