Commission sues Hungary for releasing thousands of smugglers

**The European Commission referred Hungary to the Court of Justice of the European Union for not complying with EU laws on migrant smuggling on Wednesday, claiming in a statement that Hungary violated its obligations to impose effective sanctions for people smuggling offences.**

**The European Commission recalled that in April 2023 Hungary adopted a government decree that converted prison sentences related to migrant smuggling into “reintegration detention”. As a consequence, more than two thousand foreign nationals left Hungarian prisons early and quit the country.**

*"This Government Decree undermines the objective to effectively tackle migrant smuggling, the deterrent factor of the EU Facilitators legislation and the joint EU efforts in countering migrant smuggling,"*

**the European Commission statement said.**

**The Hungarian government cited prison overcrowding and cost efficiency as reasons for the decree.**

**As Hungary is a member of the Schengen zone, most of the convicted criminals moved to Austria and then on to Western Europe.**