The European Commission to deduct €200 million fine from Hungary's EU funds
The European Commission announced on Wednesday that Hungary will lose 200 million euros of EU funding, as a penalty for not paying a fine set by the European Court of Justice.
The European Commission has triggered a special procedure to deduct the €200 million fine that the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has imposed on Hungary over the country's long-standing restrictions on the right to asylum.
The fine has to be paid as a lump sum to the European Commission.
Budapest missed the first deadline in late August, prompting the executive to send a second payment request with a deadline of 17 September, Euronews reports. Since this second request was also ignored, the Commission said on Wednesday it would activate the so-called "offsetting procedure" to subtract the €200 million fine from Hungary's allocated share of the EU budget.
"What we will do now is to deduct 200 million euros from the next payments to Hungary from the EU budget," said a spokesman for the European executive.
