“This is an important day for me,” Tageblatt quoted Jean Asselborn as saying on 6 September.

In 2016, he called for the EU to expel Hungary over its treatment of asylum seekers with regard to its border fence, saying “Hungary is not far from giving orders to shoot refugees.”

He further said that if Hungary were to apply to join the EU today, its application would fail based on the values it demonstrated.

In June 2017, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Hungary and Poland for not taking in any refugees under the scheme.

The ECJ announced Wednesday its dismissal of the challenge from Slovakia and Hungary against the relocation policy of refugees, making the resettlements mandatory.

Hungary, Slovakia and Poland had proposed a voluntary system.

“The mechanism actually contributes to enabling Greece and Italy to deal with the impact of the 2015 migration crisis and is proportionate”, the ECJ said in a statement announcing its ruling. The agreement requires that 160,000 displaced people temporarily living in Italy and Greece be relocated across member states.

According to Politico, only about 25,000 people have thusfar been transferred.

Asselborn was further quoted by Tageblatt as saying that “It shows that the European institutions work”.