EU sues member states over migrant relocation failure

By Ilker Girit

ISTANBUL

The European Union on Thursday has decided to sue the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland after they failed to comply with the Union's migrant relocation measures despite having been warned several times.

The European Commission said in a statement that it referred the member states to the Court of Justice of the EU for non-compliance with their legal obligations under the scheme.

In response to the migration crisis in 2015, the EU adopted a decision to relocate asylum seekers who arrived in Italy and Greece, which were dealing with a massive inflow of migrants.

While most of the member states had relocated the migrants, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland had failed to apply the measures fully.

The EU Commission launched infringement procedures against the three countries in June and twice demanded an explanation for the non-compliance.

The bloc, however, found the trio's response unsatisfactory, saying that "the three countries have given no indication that they will contribute to the implementation of the relocation decision."

The Commission also said all other member states "have relocated and pledged in the past months" whereas Hungary has not taken any action since the scheme began.

According to the Commission, Poland had not relocated anyone and not pledged since December 2015 and the Czech Republic had not relocated anyone since August 2016 and not made any new pledges for over a year.