The EU is as worthless as the UN.
Via Reuters:
The European Commission launched a legal case on Tuesday against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic for refusing to take in asylum seekers, ratcheting up a bitter feud within the 28-nation bloc about how to deal with migration.
The eurosceptic, nationalist-minded governments in Poland and Hungary have refused to take in anyone under a plan agreed by a majority of EU leaders in 2015 to relocate migrants from frontline states Italy and Greece to help ease their burden.
The Czech Republic, another ex-communist central European state, initially accepted 12 people but has since said it would not welcome more.
“I regret to see that, despite our repeated calls to pledge to relocate, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland have not yet taken the necessary action,” the EU’s migration commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos, told a news conference.
He said the Commission was therefore launching so-called infringement procedures against the three, a way for the executive arm to take to task countries that fail to meet their obligations. It opens the way for months, even years, of legal wrangling before a top EU court could potentially impose fines.
“From the political point of view, this action … unnecessarily heats up political tensions, of which there are already too many in the European Union,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski told state TV on Tuesday.
“If necessary, Poland is ready to defend its legal arguments in court.”
At stake in the dispute is the bloc’s unity, already tested by Britain’s unprecedented decision to leave, weak economies and higher support for eurosceptic parties across the EU.
Beyond its borders, the EU is also facing a resurgent Russia and a tricky new relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.
But two years of arm-wrestling have so far produced no results and EU leaders are unlikely to be able to break the impasse when they discuss the matter next week in Brussels.
“The Czech Republic does not agree with the system of relocation,” Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said in response.
“With regard to the worsened security situation in Europe and dysfunctionality of the quota system, it will not participate in it.”