Government weekly brieefing about migrant quota fine, Hungarian bus making and stud farms – UPDATE

Budapest, May 12 (MTI) – The European Commission’s plans to introduce mandatory migrant quotas and the 250,000 euro levy member states would have to pay for each migrant they reject violate the European Union’s founding treaties, the government office chief said on Thursday.

Government: Migrant quotas, ‘fine’ go against EU’s founding treaties

János Lázár told a regular government news conference that the EC’s plans also go against the will of the European people and fail to accurately represent the political will of a large portion of the bloc’s member states. The EC cannot force these measures onto member states that reject it, he said.

Lázár called the government’s planned referendum on migrant quotas one of the most important issues of the last 25 years. He noted that the referendum — which parliament endorsed earlier this week — will likely be held in September or early October.

Ban certain tobacco products and introduce uniform packaging

On another subject, Lázár said the government decided to ban certain tobacco products and introduce uniform packaging, possibly still this year. Earlier Lázár said the move was in line with a recent European Court ruling. The ban will apply to menthol and capsule cigarettes.