State of the Union: Is Scholz a chancellor on call?

If you love following the ups and downs of the conflicts between the European Union and Hungary, you had a field day this week.

The anti-immigrant government in Budapest ignored a deadline to pay a €200 million fine imposed by the European Court of Justice.

The judges had found that Hungary committed an “unprecedented and exceptionally serious breach of EU law” when it put long-standing restrictions on the right to asylum.

The dispute dates back to 2020 when the Hungarian authorities were heavily criticized for keeping asylum seekers in so-called transit zones under detention-like conditions.

Now the European Commission has put in motion a procedure to collect the €200 million fine.

“We have the financial regulation in place, there is no wiggle room here. We have to follow the applicable procedures," EU Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari said. "We sent a second request in line with the procedure. This gives Hungary 15 calendar days to make the payment concerned."

We’ll see what happens in two weeks.

Yet, the shocker of the week was not Hungary’s refusal to pay its fine, but the outcome of regional elections in east Germany.

For the first time since World War II, a hard right and fascist party emerged as the strongest force in a state election.

A shocker, but not a surprise.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz saw it coming.

Even before election day, he announced a tougher immigration policy in a vain attempt to stem his Social Democratic Party’s bleeding at the polls.

Germany has started deporting Afghan nationals with criminal records to their home country.

Now, Scholz’s colleague south of the border in Austria announced direct deportations to Afghanistan and Syria as well.

On that, Vienna would be in close cooperation with Berlin.

“Repat