Hungary to hold referendum on EU refugee quota
The Hungarian government is to call a national referendum on a plan by the European Union for mandatory relocation of refugees by the EU member states.
“The government has decided to hold a referendum on the mandatory distribution quota issue,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Wednesday.
Orban, who was speaking to reporters in a press conference, would not disclose a date for the referendum, but said a vote question has been prepared and submitted to the National Election Office for approval.
He said the question would be, “Do you want the European Union to prescribe the mandatory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary even without the consent of Parliament?”
Orban said those voting against EU’s mandatory quotas would vote in favor of Hungary's independence.
“The government is responding to public sentiment now, we think that introducing resettlement quotas for migrants without the backing of the people equals an abuse of power,” he said, adding that quotas would redraw the ethnic, cultural and religious map of Hungary and Europe.
Orban’s right-wing government has been totally against the quotas set last September by the EU interior ministers during a meeting in Brussels. According to the plan, member states of the EU must take part in the relocation of some 160,000 refugees from the frontline countries of Greece and Italy.
Estimates show that only a few hundred refugees have managed to get settled in European countries. Eastern members of the EU such as Hungary and the Czech Republic have opposed the deal from the very beginning while others cite logistical problems for the delay.
The International Organization for Migration said Tuesday that more than 100,000 refugees have crossed the Mediterranean to Greece and Italy so far this year. More than a million also managed to reach Europe in 2015, creating the worst refugee crisis for Europe in decades.
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