Hungarian foreign minister: ‘Still threat’ of EU migrant quotas, constitutional amendment needed

Budapest, November 6 (MTI) – The “threat” of European Union migrant quotas “has not gone away” and the issue again will be on the agenda of a meeting of the European Council on Dec. 20-21, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in a public radio interview on Sunday. “This is why amending the constitution is important,” he said.

The government continues to insist that “there cannot be binding quotas”, the minister said. The EU will experience a “massive struggle if they try to force this down our throats at any price,” he said, adding that “the country should be defended” by amending the fundamental law.

“It will become apparent on November 8 who and who doesn’t want to defend Hungary,” he said.

Szijjártó said that certain organisations condemned Hungary because the government had sought the opinion of ordinary Hungarians in a plebiscite concerning an issue “that will fundamentally determine” the future of Hungary and the EU. “There isn’t a more democratic tool than a referendum, but it is not democratic that certain international organisations try to interfere in Hungary’s internal political business,” Szijjártó said.

At the same time, the Netherlands held a plebiscite on the free-trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU and “they had no problem with that”, he said.