Hungary unilaterally suspends EU asylum seeker rules

Immigrants from Syria climb from a motorway down a slope at Tabanovce near the Serbian border with Macedonia June 19, 2015. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

VIENNA (Reuters) - Hungary has unilaterally suspended European Union asylum rules that require it to take back refugees who first enter Hungary, then travel to other countries, a government spokesman said in a prepared statement.

"Hungary's asylum system is overburdened, the most overburdened among EU member states affected by illegal immigration," the spokesman said. The asylum rules, known as the Dublin Regulation, were first drafted in the early 1990s. They require people seeking refuge to do so in the European country where they first set foot.