The court of guarantees avoids ruling on the accusations of the European Court in this matter, although it defends the sovereignty of the country if its laws conflict with those of the EU
A week after the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) paved the way for the European Commission to punish Hungary and Poland for not respecting the rule of law, the Hungarian Constitutional magistrates open a new convulsed scenario with Brussels. Following in the wake of the Polish high court, the Hungarian judges, in a ruling issued this Friday, argue that in the face of a clash of criteria between national and European jurisdiction in certain matters, the former has priority if there is a risk to sovereignty .
The origin of this resolution is in the challenge by the Government of Viktor Orban of a ruling of the Court of Justice of the EU issued on December 17 of last year and which considered that Hungary, when carrying out hot returns of migrants who had entered in its territory in an irregular way, it had breached the community rules. Not only for denying them the right to asylum, but also for expelling them to Serbia.
The Hungarian Constitutional Court has not specifically ruled on this government challenge, which, by omission, implies that Hungary reserves the right to take its own initiatives in those areas where the EU has not taken adequate measures to implement the common standards. The text talks about cases in which it is found “incomplete effectiveness” of European standards. In short, it does not take for granted the primacy of Community Justice, an unquestionable pillar of the EU and whose questioning has already cost a millionaire sanction and a harsh confrontation between Brussels and the Polish authorities.
“It is clear that we have the right to refuse to live with different peoples,” says the Minister of Justice
In the ruling, according to the Associated Press, the Hungarian court emphasizes that the interpretation of the national Constitution “cannot have the objective of reviewing the judgment of the CJEU, nor the procedure of the Constitutional Court in the present case, by its very nature, extends to the review of the primacy of EU law ‘. But it does emphasize that the Magna Carta of Hungary protects the country’s “inalienable right” to “determine its territorial unit, population, form of government and state structure.”
A “strong legal barrier”
The court decision “focuses solely on migration,” underlined Judit Varga, Hungarian Minister of Justice, who celebrated on Twitter as “the Court has made it clear that we have the right to refuse to live with peoples other than those who have shared a common destiny during centuries”. “The ruling of the Constitutional Court clarifies that as long as the full effectiveness of the EU rules on migration is not guaranteed, Hungary has the right to exercise such powers,” he added. For his part, Viktor Orban was quick to interpret that his government already has “a strong legal barrier” that protects its anti-immigration policies.
“We will analyze the legal details of that ruling,” said a spokesman for the European Commission after hearing the decision of the magistrates. He recalled in a “very preliminary” assessment that it is the States that have the obligation to “implement” the decisions of the CJEU, emphasizing the unquestionable nature of their primacy over the national courts. Hungary, aligned with Poland in its conflicts with Brussels, is also following in its footsteps in this legal derivative. On October 7, its Constitutional Constitution stated that several articles of the EU Treaties were not compatible with the Polish Magna Carta.
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