Brussels threatens penalties as EU states fail to resettle refugees

The EU could take Hungary to the European Court of Justice to attempt to force compliance, but Brussels has other options, says Camino Mortera-Martinez of the Centre for European Reform, who spoke to VOA from Brussels. “So instead of going after a country that is not complying with EU law, you can try to use some other tools to force them into complying – for example, by withdrawing some of the budgets,” she said.

But that could backfire at a time when opposition to the EU is high. “To me, the critical consequence of forcing countries at the moment to take refugees is a very clear surge in anti-EU sentiment,” said Mortera-Martinez.