Referendum – Identity at core in referendum, says Fidesz deputy leader

Budapest, August 16 (MTI) – Identity and survival are core issues at stake in the Oct. 2 referendum on the European Union migrant quota system, with the effects of the decision potentially lasting for decades or even centuries, a senior Fidesz party official said on Tuesday.

Hungarians should say “no” to the European Commission’s proposal “and especially to a planned proposal that will completely remove all obstacles to illegal migration, tantamount to a letter of invitation,” Gergely Gulyás, deputy leader of the ruling party, told commercial broadcaster InfoRadio.

In the referendum, voters will be asked: “Do you want to allow the European Union to mandate the resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens to Hungary without the approval of parliament?”

He said the left wing’s failure to support a referendum on issues important to the fate of the nation was “regrettable”.

“I believe that all political forces that feel responsible for the country’s fate should encourage everyone to go to the polls, because this is not an issue of party politics but indeed an issue of national importance, in which we could all join forces and come to agree”, he said.

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“There has been progress in left-wing politics” regarding ethnic Hungarians beyond the borders, he added.

If the referendum is valid and successful, it will give the government a strong mandate in talks with Brussels, he added.

The result in itself could persuade the European Commission to hold back from submitting a proposal that would force states to take in migrants against their will and decide only later whether these migrants have a right to asylum. Alternatively, in light of the referendum, the heads of state and government may refuse to accept such a proposal should it be submitted, he added.

The prime minister and foreign minister, in agreement with members of the Visegrad Group, have made a clear statement on the matter, but after the popular vote “the very same voices will carry much more weight,” he said. The commission may not be legally obliged to accept the result of the Hungarian vote but it would be under strong political pressure to do so, Gulyás said.

Results on the European stage can only be reached with common purpose, and the V4 states enjoy very much the same kind of alliance as the Benelux states do, and they should form a similar parliamentary bloc, he said, adding that at the end of August there will be a related summit after which a formal framework may be established.

Source: MTI