Brussels, Dec 7 (AFP) The EU took the Czech Republic,Hungary and Poland to the bloc's top court today over theirrefusal to accept quotas for asylum-seekers, setting up a newclash between Brussels and key eastern states.
The move shows the determination in Brussels to enforcethe controversial scheme launched at the height of the migrantcrisis in 2015 to share 160,000 refugees around the bloc andease the burden on Greece and Italy.
"The European Commission has today decided to refer theCzech Republic, Hungary and Poland to the Court of Justice ofthe EU for non-compliance with their legal obligations onrelocation," the commission said in a statement.
There was no immediate reaction from Prague, Budapest orWarsaw, but all three have previously said the quotas are partof attempts by Brussels to limit national sovereignty.
Brussels launched so-called infringement proceedingsagainst the three countries in June for failing to take in anyrefugees under the quota system, and warned them last month offurther action.
They face heavy fines for failing to comply with anyeventual ruling by the Luxembourg-based European Court ofJustice.
The ongoing row over the quota scheme has held up effortsto reform the bloc's asylum system, which leaders are supposedto be discussing at an EU summit in Brussels on December 14-15.
The EU's "relocation" scheme is now wrapping up havingmoved 32,000 out of an originally planned total of 160,000,but it caused bad blood when it was forced through two yearsago despite the objections of some countries.
The row also underscores a growing rift between westernEuropean states and newer, former Soviet-bloc states in theEuropean Union over a series of issues from migration todemocratic standards.
Budapest faced a triple legal whammy from Brussels onThursday, with the European Commission also taking Hungary tothe ECJ over a crackdown on education and foreign-backed civilsociety groups that critics say targets US billionaire GeorgeSoros.
The European Commission -- the executive arm of the EU --said Hungary had repeatedly failed to answer its concerns overboth cases.
It said in a statement that it was suing Hungary as theeducation law "disproportionally restricts EU and non-EUuniversities in their operations and needs to be brought backin line with EU law."Hungary has introduced an education law that could shutthe Soros-founded Central University in Budapest, which haslong been seen as a hostile bastion of liberalism by Orban'sright-wing government.
In June, Hungary approved a law aimed at forcing civilsociety groups receiving more than 24,000 euros ($26,000)annually in overseas funding to register as a "foreign-supported organisation", or face closure.
The European Commission said that the laws on foreignnon-governmental organisations "indirectly discriminate anddisproportionately restrict donations from abroad to civilsociety organisations."Poland's rightwing government is also in the EU's legalcrosshairs.
Last month the ECJ warned Warsaw to stop logging in oneof Europe's last primeval forests "immediately" or face finesof up to 100,000 euros a day.
The European Parliament also voted to start an EUsanctions procedure over Warsaw's controversial judicialreforms that could eventually suspend Polish voting rights inthe bloc. (AFP)CPS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.