Szijjártó: opinion of 3.3 million cannot be neglected

Budapest (MTI) – The will of the 3.3 million people who voted “no” in Sunday’s migrant quota referendum cannot be ignored in Hungary or in the wider European Union, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said at a press conference held on a different subject on Monday.

Szijjártó said the 3.3 million votes were more than those supporting Hungary’s accession to the EU in 2004. And turnout was higher than in the latest European parliamentary election, he added.

Under the “authorisation granted” by the referendum, the government will “fight hard” in Brussels to remove European decisions aimed at resettlement quotas, Szijjártó said.

He said the referendum had conveyed the “obvious” message that “the will of European people cannot be overlooked and no one should make contrary policies in Brussels or elsewhere”. “The position of Hungarian voters was very clear on Sunday,” the minister added.

Answering a question about the impact of the referendum on migrants staying in Serbia, Szijjártó said the situation had slipped out of control and migrants had become “uncontrollably aggressive” last year amid “ambiguous messages” from western Europe. “Immigrants and people smugglers will be ready to misunderstand such messages,” Szijjártó said, adding that if migrants “set off” for Hungary, the border is protected.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI