European Court Dismisses Actions by Slovakia and Hungary Concerning Relocation of Asylum Seekers (September 6, 2017) [1]
On September 6, 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed [3] complaints in Slovakia and Hungary v. Council brought by the two states against provisional measures that required the mandatory relocation of asylum seekers in Italy and Greece. The press release [4] states that the Council of the European Union adopted a decision in 2015 that provides for the relocation of asylum seekers from Italy and Greece to other EU member states, which Slovakia and Hungary argued was done through a faulty procedural process and was neither necessary nor suitable for addressing the migrant crisis. The Court held that because “the decision is a non-legislative act, its adoption was not subject to the requirements relating to the participation of national Parliaments and to the public nature of the deliberations and vote in the Council.” The Court also held that the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union “enables the EU institutions to adopt all the provisional measures necessary to respond effectively and swiftly to an emergency situation characterised by a sudden inflow of displaced persons” and that the relocation mechanism “is not a measure that is manifestly inappropriate for contributing to achieving its objective.”