Government: Hungary aims to get migrant quotas taken off EU agenda

Budapest, October 18 (MTI) – The aim of the Hungarian government is to persuade Brussels to take mandatory migrant quotas off the European Union’s agenda, the government office chief said at his weekly press briefing on Tuesday.

The government needs the help of every Hungarian politician in this “battle”, János Lázár said. He noted that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had initiated meetings with the leaders of every parliamentary party to garner support for Hungary’s challenge of migrant quotas.

He said the prime minister had already met Socialist Party leader Gyula Molnár in the matter and that he was meeting Gábor Vona, the head of Jobbik, on Tuesday afternoon.

In his talks with Molnár, the prime minister asked the Socialists to support Hungary in its political debates with the EU, even if the party had not supported the government-initiated constitutional amendment proposal on migrant quotas, Lázár said.

The Socialist Party confirmed in a statement that Molnár had met Orbán on Tuesday to discuss the topics that will be on the agenda at this week’s EU summit. The party reiterated, however, that it was not willing to discuss the constitutional amendment proposal with the prime minister.

With the Socialist Party having made it clear that it would not hold talks about amending the constitution “without a mandate from the majority of voters”, the prime minister “accepted” the offer to discuss security policy matters, the statement said.

The party said the meeting, which had been initiated by Orbán, focused on the topics that will be covered by the European Council, including migration, Russia and the proposed EU-US and EU-Canada free trade deals.

The Socialists said Orbán and Molnár disagreed on the state of public life, democracy, press freedom and the rule of law in Hungary.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI