Hungary suspends acceptance of returned asylum seekers

The Hungarian government announced Tuesday evening that it is suspending the application of a European Union (EU) asylum rule requiring the acceptance of migrants who are returned to the country where they were initially sheltered.

Using the DubliNet system, the Hungarian Office of Immigration and Nationality informed the authorities of 13 EU countries and Norway that "for technical reasons" it is suspending all pending cases as of Tuesday,June 23, and will not accept any refugees they sought to return to Hungary.

Hungary said its refugee system had been overloaded, having received the most illegal migrants among all the EU countries, and could no longer handle more. As of Monday, June 22, Hungarian police had detained 60,089 illegal migrants since the start of this year.

The Hungarian authorities have argued that they do not have adequate facilities to house so many people until their capacity is reinforced, while the opposition Democratic Coalition party said the government is deliberately violating an important international accord for its own domestic policy goals.

The opposition Together party said the government is damaging Hungary' s national interests by isolating the country from its Western allies. It called the move untenable.

The European Commission has demanded to know what measures Hungary is taking to resolve the problem. Endi