BUDAPEST, Hungary: Hungary President Janos Ader has announced that a national referendum will take place on October 02 on the European Union’s plans for a mandatory quota for migrant and refugee resettlement in 28-member bloc.
“As president of the republic I decree that the referendum will be held on October 02,” Janos Ader said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Do you want the EU to prescribe the mandatory relocation of non-Hungarian citizens to Hungary without the approval of the Hungarian parliament?” voters will be asked in the referendum.
Under the EU proposals, migrants will be moved from Italy, Greece and Hungary to other EU countries. However, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary are against the plans to relocate 120,000 migrants in the European continent. Hungary is also expected to take its share under the scheme.
The Hungary government led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban is of the view that the plan violates its national sovereignty and that “terrorists” might enter the country disguised as migrants.
Brussels (EU Headquarters) has no right to “redraw Europe’s cultural and religious identity”, Viktor Orban said in February this year.
Last year, around 400,000 migrants and refugees passed through Hungary before the government sealed off the southern borders with razor wire and fences in the autumn.
The Hungary authorities also brought in tough new laws punishing illegal entry and vandalism of the fences.
