The EC said a government decree adopted in April on the early release of people smugglers, and their expulsion from the country within 72 hours, failed to comply with an EU directive on imposing "effective, proportionate and dissuasive" sanctions for migrant smuggling.
Commenting on the infringement procedure on Friday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó called Brussels "the biggest supporter of people smuggling". "The people smuggling model works because Brussels has implemented a pro-migration policy," he added.
In a statement issued later on Friday, the Government Information Center said Hungary had "defended Europe's frontiers when it arrested over 2,600 people smugglers and put them in jail".
"Brussels contributes no money to the border fence and no money to the construction of prisons while sanctioning Hungary for prison overcrowding. Hungary acted in line with Hungarian rules when it ordered the reintegration detention of people sentenced for people smuggling in the interest of reducing prison overcrowding," it added.
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