German Chancellor Angela Merkel has slammed Hungary’s decision to continue to refuse to take in redistributed migrants and has left the possibility of Hungary leaving the European Union on the table.
The German Chancellor made her remarks this week in response to the Hungarian government which said it would not respect the decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) made last week, Die Zeit reports.
The ECJ rejected an appeal from the Hungarians and Slovakians who said the forced redistribution of migrants required the consent of member states and their people.
“When a government says a judgement of the European Court does not interest them, that is not acceptable,” Merkel told German press.
When asked if it meant Hungary could be kicked out of the European Union she added: “This means that a very fundamental question of Europe is affected, because Europe is an area of justice for me. We must talk at the European Council in October about it.”
“In the case of the solidarity distribution of refugees in Europe, there are only three or four countries which currently refuse to do so, but all the others have agreed to play their part,” Merkel said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán criticised the European Union’s use of the word “solidarity” in recent days saying, “We don’t think it belongs to the question of solidarity to give up a nation’s constitutional rules and national sovereignty.”
“Brussels, on the other hand, thinks that whatever they declare solidarity, that’s solidarity,” he said calling it a “dictate”.
The Hungarians have also called the ECJ ruling “not a legal or professional one but a political one”. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said the European Union had “raped European law and European values”.
Chancellor Merkel also spoke about the looming prospect of family reunifications in Germany which could see as many as 390,000 people bring their families to Germany by 2018.
“At the beginning of the year, we will assess the situation and then decide how it will continue,” she said but added those with refugee status have “a right to family reunion, and we will stick to it”.