EU court adviser urges judges to reject Le Pen bid against asylum relocation rules

The French far-right were delivered a blow on Thursday (4 June) in their efforts to scupper new EU rules on sharing arriving prospective asylum seekers among the bloc’s member states.

Although only an opinion and non-binding, an advocate general at Europe’s top court in Luxembourg suggested their case be dismissed.

First lodged in June 2024 on behalf of the French National Assembly by Marine Le Pen and her far-right National Rally party, the case argues that the EU has no competence requiring member states to relocate arriving asylum seekers.

New EU asylum laws kicking into force next week do not require member states to relocate anyone.

But it does require them to offer some other sort of assistance to countries in need, including financial contributions of up to €20,000 per person not relocated into a so-called EU ‘solidarity pool’.