Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban meets with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Budapest on September 12, 2017. Greece is a frontline destination for migrants in the EU, while Hungary is challenging the EU's mandatory refugee relocation scheme | EPA-EFE/Balazs Szecsodi Hungary: Battle over migration has only just begun Despite losing court case on refugees, Budapest remains defiant.

Hungary may have lost a court battle on migration but the conflict is far from over, the Hungarian government said Monday.

“We believe there's a fight going on. As a matter of fact, in many respects the legal and political fight, or debate, is just at the beginning,” Zoltán Kovács, spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, said at a press conference in Brussels.

EU officials have been looking for clues as to how Hungary would react to losing a court case, along with Slovakia, on migration. The two countries had challenged the mandatory nature of the EU's refugee relocation scheme. Hungary and Poland are facing separate legal action from Brussels for refusing to take part in the refugee program.

"Hungary is a European Union member, so the bloc's treaties must be respected and the court's rulings must be acknowledged," Orbán said in a radio interview a few days after the ruling earlier this month.

"But this is not a reason to change an immigration policy that rejects migrants," he added.

Part of the ongoing debate on migration and asylum is how to set up a permanent system for member countries to show solidarity with those nations on the migration frontline such as Italy and Greece. Proposals to reform the EU's asylum system have been stalled for months as officials work out how to deal with refuseniks Hungary and Poland.

“We all know there are plans for a permanent redistribution system of asylum seekers and we clearly said no,” Kovács said Monday.

The court ruling brought up a crucial point about who wields the real power in the EU, the Commission or the member countries.

In its ruling, the European Court of Justice said that the Commission does not have to wait for guidelines to be drawn up in the European Council before coming up with legislative proposals.

Budapest disagrees with that position. “The court decision was explicit on the temporary nature of the decision,” Kovács said, pointing out that the relocation scheme was launched as an emergency measure.

"We don't believe politically it is right [for the Commission] to go against the decision of the European Council, the highest level,” he said.

Kovács said that next year's Hungarian election would have an impact on the government's thinking.

"Everything you're going to see in the upcoming months ... seven months, always consider that there's an election campaign going on ... so it's not routine and normal behavior.”