Orbán: Constitutional amendment ‘national cause’

Budapest, October 28 (MTI) – The issue of amending the constitution in light of the Oct. 2 referendum on EU migrant quotas is a national one and has nothing to do with party politics or economic matters, the prime minister said in a radio interview on Friday.

Viktor Orbán told public radio that more than 3 million Hungarians had given their opinion rejecting migrant quotas and that this outcome formed the basis for amending the constitution. “This is not connected with any other matter,” he insisted.

The Jobbik party insists that the government will only have its support to change the constitution if the residency bond scheme is scrapped. A two-thirds majority is needed to change the constitution.

Orbán said the ruling parties could not accept Jobbik’s demand.

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“You have to take into account that you cannot boss 3.3 million people around,” he said.

He vowed to submit the amendment bill to parliament “and it is up to everyone’s conscience what decision they make.”

Orban confirmed that work is ongoing to reassess the country’s financial conditions and it was possible that after a review of how the country should be financed, the economy minister, in light of the results, would submit a bill to parliament that includes the fate of the residency bonds. Economy Minister Mihály Varga will submit his proposal to the government by the end of this year, he added.

He said in 2012 Hungary had had no direct access to the markets and “parties standing against us” managed to make it increasingly difficult for the government to access financial resources. This is why the residency bond scheme was devised and “it was a very successful solution”, he added.

Commenting on last week’s European Union summit, he said a stalemate had emerged because the quota proposal was still on the table. “We are constantly vetoeing it.” In order to resolve this situation, the Slovak EU presidency must be ready with a proposal by December, Orbán said.

A good scenario will develop if the mandatory quotas are removed, but if the stalemate remains and the big states continue “wanting to shove down our throats the mandatory quotas”, then Hungary will resist; it will refuse to carry out the decision and take the European Commission to court. “There will be a big battle. And we need the constitution for that,” he added.