George Soros

(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)BUDAPEST – The advocate general for European Union’s highest court on Thursday urged the court to rule that Hungary violated the bloc’s laws on asylum when it passed legislation narrowing the possibilities for asylum-seekers to receive international protection.
The non-binding opinion from the European Court of Justice’s Advocate General, Athanasios Rantos, states that the 2018 amendments to Hungary’s asylum laws — which prohibited asylum-seekers who passed through safe countries en route to Hungary from receiving international protection — violated EU law.
Opinions by advocates general are often but not always followed by the European Court of Justice, which will make a final ruling on the case at a later date.
AdRantos also advised the court to rule that a Hungarian law that cracks down on organizations and individuals that provide legal assistance to asylum-seekers violates EU law.
The country’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, claims he is seeking to protect Hungary’s conservative Christian identity and to defend Europe from immigration from the Mideast and Africa.