ECJ Grand Chamber rejects Slovakia and Hungary’s challenge to refugee quota scheme

The mechanism, designed to help Italy and Greece deal with a massive inflow of people during the migration crisis, provides for the relocation of 120,000 refugees from those countries to other EU member states.

Slovakia and Hungary, which joined Czechia and Romania in voting against the mechanism at the Council of the European Union in summer 2015, asked the court to annul the decision.

They argued (i) that the adoption of the decision was vitiated by errors of a procedural nature or arising from the choice of an inappropriate legal basis and (ii) that the decision was neither a suitable response to the migrant crisis nor necessary for that purpose.

Poland intervened in the case in support of Slovakia and Hungary, while Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden and the European Commission intervened in support of the Council.

In its judgment, the Court said that “none of the pleas in law put forward by the Slovak Republic or by Hungary can be accepted”.

The provisional relocation scheme is set to expire later this month.