Austria’s Interior Minister on Wednesday threatened to sue Hungary if it refused to take back migrants who had crossed their shared border, as political tensions mounted over immigration before presidential elections.
Austria’s government has been facing a challenge from the far-right Freedom Party.
It has repeatedly accused Hungary of letting migrants enter its territory in the face of EU rules that asylum seekers must stay in the first country they enter in the bloc.
Hungary, itself has been preparing for a referendum on whether to accept a Europe-wide asylum quota.
The Interior Minister, Wolfgang Sobotka while responding to a question on Hungary’s refusal to give ground said that most refugees enter its territory from other EU states.
“Notably from Italy and Greece, in a growing blame game.
“States or groups of states that permanently break the law have to expect legal consequences, in that case, the (Austrian) republic must sue.
“The republic must see that the European Union acts according to the law, full stop,” he said without specifying what legal process he was considering.
Budapest built a fence along its border with non-EU member Serbia to stem the flow of hundreds of thousands of people, many of them fleeing violence in the Middle East and North Africa.
Both Hungary and Austria had said that the situation was now broadly under control.
A Hungarian government spokesman dismissed Sobotka’s call in an emailed statement, saying “the vast majority of migrants had arrived in other EU states first.
“Hungary cannot and will not take responsibility for, and suffer the consequences of, the irresponsible conduct of other member states.
“Austria and Germany which expressly suggested ignoring the rules, or for other states like Greece that neglected to do their job,” the spokesman said.
Germany and Austria initially welcomed large numbers of refugees from the Middle East and Afghanistan.
However, Vienna started to toughen its asylum rules earlier this year and introduced an annual limit on the number of asylum requests it accepts.