Icon: enlarge
European Court of Justice in Luxembourg (archive image)
Photo: Arne Immanuel Bänsch / dpa
Hungary faces defeat at the European Court of Justice because of a controversial law.
It criminalizes the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and activists in refugee aid in certain cases.
The so-called »Stop Soros Law« of the right-wing national government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is not in accordance with EU law, said a CJEU expert.
The assessment is not binding for a judgment.
However, the ECJ judges often follow the experts' assessments.
The EU Commission had filed a lawsuit against the 2018 law.
A decision is expected in the coming months.
The term "Stop Soros" refers to the liberal US billionaire George Soros.
The Holocaust survivor comes from Hungary and with his foundation supports numerous civil organizations that help refugees and asylum seekers.
The Hungarian government accuses Soros of bringing large numbers of Muslim immigrants to Europe.
In the past, Soros has also received anti-Semitic hostility from the Hungarian government.
Hungarian law criminalizes NGO workers and activists who want to give asylum seekers access to a procedure, even if they were not persecuted in their country of origin or in a country on their way to Hungary.
According to the law, only those people who come directly from a place where their life or freedom is at risk are entitled to asylum.
In addition, the law prohibits refugee workers from entering an eight kilometer wide strip along the Hungarian EU external border.
Expert sees refugee workers unlawfully hindered in their work
Advocate General Athanasios Rantos now writes in the report that the criminalization of the refugee workers is an unjustified obstacle to their work.
It is up to the authorities to examine applications for international protection - and not from NGOs or legal advisors.
The fact that Serbia is a safe transit country for Hungary means that many applications are doomed to failure and helpers expose themselves to danger.
According to Rantos, the eight-kilometer rule does not violate EU law.
The EU Commission sued Hungary several times over the last few years because of the asylum rules before the ECJ.
The court overturned the rules several times.
Last year, for example, the ECJ ruled that a Hungarian law, according to which an asylum application can be rejected if the applicant enters via a "safe transit country", is illegal.
Icon: The mirror
fek / dpa
