The criminalization of organizations that support migrants and asylum seekers in Hungary is illegal according to a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The so-called “Stop Soros Law” of the right-wing national government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban violates EU law, the ECJ judges ruled on Tuesday in Luxembourg (case C-821/19).
The background to the ruling is a lawsuit by the EU Commission against the 2018 law. It criminalizes activists and employees of non-governmental organizations who help migrants to apply for asylum, although they are probably not eligible for protection according to Hungarian criteria.
This restricts the right of asylum seekers "to communicate with the relevant national, international and non-governmental organizations and to receive support from them," argues the EU Commission.
The Brussels authority monitors compliance with common law in the international community.
Soros attacked with anti-Semitic stereotypes
The ECJ judges have now confirmed the EU Commission. The Hungarian regulation would limit the rights guaranteed under EU law of those who support people seeking international protection, it said on Tuesday. The term "Stop Soros" refers to the liberal American billionaire George Soros. The Holocaust survivor from Hungary supports numerous civil organizations with his humanitarian foundation that help asylum seekers and migrants. The Hungarian government accuses Soros of bringing large numbers of Muslim immigrants to Europe and attacks him with anti-Semitic stereotypes.
Also on Tuesday, the ECJ once again declared a regulation in the current Polish judicial system to be inadmissible.
The judges ruled that it violates EU law that the Minister of Justice, currently Zbigniew Ziobro, is also the prosecutor general, can second judges to higher-level criminal courts and can end such a secondment at any time.
Only in October Poland was sentenced to a fine
According to the ECJ, the rule means that the seconded judges do not have the guarantees and independence that a judge in a constitutional state should normally have for the duration of the secondment.
According to the judgment, it cannot therefore be ruled out that the regulation will be used as an instrument for political control of the content of judicial decisions.
It was only in October that the ECJ sentenced Poland to pay a daily fine of one million euros for failing to implement an earlier ruling on controversial judicial reforms.
Specifically, it was particularly about the order to stop the work of the disciplinary body to punish judges.
According to ECJ rulings, the activity is not compatible with EU rules on the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.