OR Hungary unveiled the buses it says will take asylum seekers arriving at its border with Serbia to Brussels, prompting an angry reaction from the Belgian government.

The threat, which was first made in August, has taken on new dimensions in recent days, after the public transport company’s yellow buses, which were hired specifically for this purpose, were revealed.

“The EU wants to force Hungary to allow the illegal (migrants) we stop at the country’s southern border to enter. Well then! Once the European procedures are in place, we will offer them a free one-way to Brussels. If the Brussels they want them, they will have them,” said the deputy interior minister Bense Retvari.

Hungary is responding in this way to the record fine of 200 million euros imposed on it in June by the European Court of Justice for not complying with international treaties regarding the right to asylum. The fine is accompanied by a fine of 1 million euros per day. Budapest refuses to pay, calling the decision “unfair” and “scandalous”.

This threat is “unacceptable”, reacted today the Deputy Minister of Asylum and Immigration of Belgium, Nicole de Moore. “This kind of arrogant behavior is unfortunate and counterproductive” while “undermining solidarity and cooperation within the European Union”, he added, warning that if implemented it would be “a flagrant violation of European and international treaties”.

When asked about the issue n European Commissionpreferred not to comment, noting that she is used to such “noisy statements on behalf of Hungary”.

Nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who argues that “ethnic replacement” is being attempted in Western European countries, strongly opposes welcoming immigrants from countries outside Europe. After the 2015 crisis, he “fortified” Hungary, erecting fences on the border and declaring that he wants to “defend Christian Europe”.

If Budapest does not pay the fines, the European Commission can collect them by reducing the funds it has not yet allocated to Hungary. Of the European funds, 19 billion euros still remain “frozen” for violating the principles of the rule of law.