referendum

Local assembly rejects referendum on tyre recycling plant after company scraps project

Budapest, August 29 (MTI) – The city assembly of Kaposvár, in southwest Hungary, on Monday rejected an initiative to hold a referendum on plans to build a tyre recycling plant in the city on the grounds that holding one had become devoid of purpose after the project was scrapped.

Homatech Recycling cancelled the project last month because of support for holding a referendum on the investment.

The referendum was initiated by Attila Pintér, the head of the Socialist Party’s local chapter.

Kaposvár Mayor Károly Szita said in July that Homatech CEO Gábor István had signed an agreement cancelling the sale of a parcel of land on which to build the plant.

Homatech announced plans to build the 16 billion forint (EUR 51.8m) plant in Szazhalombatta, near Budapest, last November, but started looking for a new location because of opposition by local residents and the municipal council. Kaposvár was announced as the new location for the project in April.

Homatech Recycling is majority-owned by Bonitas 2002 Befektetési, a holding of food industry magnate and OTP Bank chief Sándor Csányi.

Kúria rejects request for repeat review of signatures for land sale referendum

Daily News Hungary

Budapest, August 26 (MTI) – Hungary’s supreme court, the Kúria, has rejected a request by opposition Socialist MP Zoltán Gőgös for the National Election Office to once again review the validity of signatures for a referendum to prevent a further sale of state-owned farmland.

The Kúria said that Gőgös had failed to specify in his request which signatures he believed the election office had failed to check in line with the regulations.

Gőgös submitted the collected signatures on June 28 and the election office started checking them on July 4. The head of the office said on August 19 that Gőgös had failed to collect the required 200,000 valid signatures to support his initiative.

Gőgös , however, said that during the election office’s review of the validity of signatures, the office failed to follow relevant legal regulations.

Under Hungary’s referendum law, if the number of supporting signatures collected falls between 100,000 and 200,000 the decision of whether or not to hold the referendum rests with parliament.

The Socialist Party said in response that they acknowledge the Kúria’s decision.

“The Kúria has passed a decision that is in line with the election law designed by ruling Fidesz,” the party said, adding that “the matter of the referendum will continue in parliament.”

Socialists fail to gather enough signatures for land sale referendum

Daily News Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – Socialist Party deputy leader Zoltán Gőgös has failed to collect the required 200,000 valid supporting signatures for his initiative to hold a referendum on preventing the further sale of state-owned farmland, the head of the National Election Office (NVI) said on Friday.

Gőgös submitted 181,318 valid signatures, Ilona Pálffy said after the NVI’s final review of the signatures that were ruled invalid in the initial review last month.

The politician submitted a total of 27,989 signature-collection forms, 743 of which were rejected due to formal errors. On the forms that were approved, Gőgös submitted 226,300 signatures. However, 44,982 of them were declared invalid, mainly because the personal details provided by the signees did not correspond to their data in the voter registry.

Pálffy said at a meeting of the National Election Committee (NVB) that the guidelines for reviewing the signatures were put together based on the referendum law and the NVB’s directives.

She said it was not unusual to have 19.88 percent of the signatures submitted be declared invalid, as they were in this case. Pálffy noted that in a referendum initiated in 2008 by then-opposition Fidesz, the election office threw out between 19-20 percent of the signatures.

András Litresits, the Socialist Party’s delegate, proposed that the NVB should do another review of the signatures that were rejected. He also proposed that the committee should make changes to the way it reviews the signatures.

Gőgös told a press conference after the NVB’s meeting that no official body can go against the will of 220,000 voters. He said the Socialist Party would turn to the Kuria, Hungary’s top court, so that it can help enforce the will of the 20,000 voters “who the NVI couldn’t identify”. He said the question of the referendum on land sales was already decided on Thursday when government office chief János Lázár said parliament would pass a law officially declaring the end of the farmland auctions in September.

Under Hungary’s referendum law, if the number of supporting signatures collected falls between 100,000 and 200,000 the decision of whether or not to hold the referendum rests with parliament.

Election cttee rejects referendum initiative on Ukraine’s EU accession

Budapest (MTI) – The National Election Committee (NVB) has rejected a referendum initiative on the conditions of Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

The referendum question, which was submitted by a private individual, reads:

“Do you want the Hungarian parliament to approve an accession treaty between Ukraine and the European Union strictly on the condition that the Transcarpathian region (Zakarpatszka oblaszty) in western Ukraine and specifically the Berehove (Beregszász) district are allowed to hold a referendum on their territorial affiliation (the right to become a part of Hungary or another state, become a sovereign state or remain a part of Ukraine) and administrative status?”

The NVB unanimously ruled that the initiative is in conflict with the UN Charter, which prohibits member states from getting involved in affairs that fall under other countries’ domestic jurisdiction.

Hungary’s constitution also prohibits holding referendums on international treaties, the NVB added.

The committee also said that the question is unclear and too complex.

The NVB’s decision can be appealed within 15 days.

Referendum could protect Hungary from EU migrant quota, says state secretary

Budapest, August 8 (MTI) – If the Oct. 2 national referendum on the EU migrant quota is valid and the majority of people vote against it, then Hungary’s parliament will introduce a law to prevent the EU from forcing the country to take in unwanted migrants, the justice ministry’s state secretary said in the Monday issue of daily Magyar Idők.

In the referendum, Hungarians 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?”

Pál Volner said that the prospective law would be in force for at least three years.

The government’s position is clear on the migrant quota issue, Volner stressed, insisting that a forced redistribution of migrants would hurt Hungary’s interests.

Those who vote “yes” in the October referendum will agree to allow Brussels to “direct any foreign national to Hungary’s territory at any time,” Volner told the paper.

Those voting “no” will however agree that Hungary would take in persons only with the approval and authorisation of the Hungarian state and its authorities, in line with domestic regulations, he said.

“The government has initiated the quota referendum in the interest of Europe, and not against it, and there is no serious argument in support of Hungary leaving the European community,” Volner said.

“Hungary can only move closer to achieving its goals as a member of the European community,” he told the paper.

Photo: MTI

Fidesz opposes plans to boycott referendum

Budapest, August 1 (MTI) – The ruling Fidesz party has called on the leftist opposition to clarify its position on the October 2 quota referendum on the European Commission’s plan for “the forced settlement of migrants”, deputy parliamentary leader Gergely Gulyás said.

“Boycotting the vote is tantamount to having no position,” he told a press conference.

The left wing should make clear whether it supports or opposes the commission’s plan, Gulyás said.

Tearing government campaign posters is illegal, something a responsible politician should not encourage anyone to do, he said, referring an initiative by the opposition Egyutt party.

Gulyás accused the left wing of doing everything to thwart the referendum and pushing its pro-immigration stance.

In light of the recent acts of terrorism, denying a direct connection between terrorism and migration is an untenable position, he said.

Photo: MTI

LMP co-leader, EU commissioner debate future of Hungary, EU at Ecopolis Summer Academy

Daily News Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – LMP co-leader Bernadett Szél and European Commissioner Tibor Navracsics discussed the future of Hungary and the EU at a panel discussion at the fourth Ecopolis Summer Academy in Felsőtarkány, in northern Hungary.

In their debate held at the event on Saturday evening, the topic of Hungary’s exit from the European Union was also addressed.

Szél said even the possibility that Hungary could quit the bloc would be “tragic”, adding that bringing up the subject at all is “a huge irresponsibility in these times”. Hungary has been striving to be a part of European integration for a millennium, she added.

Navracsics expressed doubt that the question of Hungary leaving the EU would ever seriously be discussed in Hungarian politics, but declared, at the same time, that he would gladly vote for the country to remain in the bloc. “There is a need for debates, but it is obvious that Hungary has a place in the EU,” Navracsics said.

On the topic of Brexit, Navracsics said that in the British referendum, national and EU identity were pitted against each other.

Szél attributed the result of the referendum to the lack of a “social European dimension” in what she called a “neoliberal union”. She said both the developed and “periphery” EU member states have been showing warning signs of an impending crisis.

Britain’s exit was supported by those who had felt that EU membership had cost the country, Szél said. This problem is also present in Hungary, she said, arguing that that the country “had become an assembly plant” where low wage earners have no need to get a good education.

Hungary needs a government that wants to strengthen the country’s ability to attract investments and does not let people work for low wages, Szél insisted.

She called Hungary’s October 2 referendum on the European Union’s migrant quota scheme a “tainted political game” which people are not obligated to take part in.

Navracsics said he would participate in the referendum and vote no.

The Ecopolis Summer Academy concludes on Sunday.

DK: Orbán should resign if migrant quota referendum invalid

Budapest, July 28 (MTI) – If the October 2 referendum on the European Union’s migrant quota is invalid, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should resign, the opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said on Thursday.

While ruling Fidesz’s “hate campaign is at full swing on every front,” the democratic opposition parties have gradually come to agree that their members and supporters should stay away from the “senseless” referendum, which “causes serious damage to Hungary”, party spokesman Zsolt Gréczy told MTI.

If people who never take part in elections and referendums plus supporters of the opposition parties that reject it stay away from the vote, then there will be a realistic chance for the referendum to be invalid, namely the turnout will remain below the 50 percent limit, he added.

Orbán should then resign because it was he who initiated the referendum and should therefore take the political responsibility for its failure, Gréczy said.

UPDATE:

In a reaction, the ruling Fidesz party called on the leftist parties to “make a clean breast of it” and admit that they support the “forced settlement” of migrants in Hungary.

In its statement, Fidesz insisted that Hungary’s left is making “desperate attempts” to thwart the government’s upcoming referendum.

“Hungary and the future of Hungarian people are jeopardised by the planned forced settlement,” the statement said. “Brussels wants to deprive member states of all their powers over immigration and wants to distribute migrants among European countries while there is no end to the influx.”

The statement accused Hungary’s “pro-migration Left” of complicity with Brussels, “spreading the threat of terrorism and destroying Europe ethnically, culturally and in religious terms”.

Photo: MTI

Election office says no referendum on state land sale

Fidesz

Budapest, July 28 (MTI) – The National Election Office (NVI) will not approve holding a national referendum on preventing the further sale of state-owned farmland because the opposition Socialist Party, which initiated the referendum, has failed to submit the required 200,000 valid supporting signatures, the deputy head of the office said late on Wednesday.

Krisztián Gáva told commercial television ATV that after reviewing 96 percent of the signatures submitted by the Socialists, 173,000 were ruled valid while 42,000 were found to be invalid. The NVI has about 10,000 more signatures to review, but even if all of them are found valid the party would still not have the required 200,000 signatures, he said.

The NVI will finish reviewing the signatures this week and will go back and check the ones that were deemed invalid during the first review, Gáva added.

He said that on Tuesday the NVI published all of its guidelines on reviewing the referendum signatures, as requested by the Socialists. He said the documents were never classified but because they are the NVI’s internal guidelines, the office could not reveal them to the Socialists immediately. Gáva said the reason why the NVI decided to publish the guidelines was because of recent statements in the press that questioned the office’s impartiality.

Socialist Party deputy leader Zoltán Gőgös reacted to Gáva’s remarks saying that the party disagrees with the election office’s methods for reviewing the signatures. He insisted that the party collected and submitted 200,000 valid signatures and said they will appeal the office’s decision.

Gőgös said the ruling Fidesz party “had already decided” that there will not be a national referendum on the sale of state-owned farmland. He accused the election office of counting the signatures “in a way that will thwart the referendum”.

He said it was “strange and suspicious” that almost a quarter of the signatures submitted were found to be invalid.

UPDATE:

The green opposition LMP said on Thursday that it was “genuinely shocked and saddened” to hear that there will not be enough valid signatures counted to hold the referendum. Lawmaker Benedek R Sallai said in a statement that the relatively high number of invalid signatures was “suspicious” and “raised questions”.

“The theft of state-owned land must be stopped by any means necessary,” he insisted.

R Sallai said his party would submit to parliament a bill aimed at protecting state assets. “Given that this government has crossed every moral boundary compared to its predecessors,” it seems timely to pass a law that will ban the sale of state-owned farmland, he said.

Quota referendum in Hungary: here are the newest billboards

According to index.hu, the government tries to entice people to take part in the quota referendum with six new billboards. Index analysed each of them, checked the truth behind the sentences and unfolded that many of those aren’t quite accurate.

All billboards have the question “Did you know?” at the top, then come the 6 statements, and the date of the referendum at the bottom.

Billboard1: Almost 1 million immigrants want to come to Europe just from Libya.

This statement probably refers to a UN warning from April. Paolo Serra, the military advisor of UN’s Libyan ambassador declared in the Italian parliament that there are 1 million potential immigrants in Libya. So the statement is true as a fact; however, it has more to it.

billboard1

For one thing, this mass of people wouldn’t come along with the immigrant wave Europe faced until now, but mostly instead of it, as with the closure of the Balkan route, many people choose the Libyan-Italian death ships instead of the Turkish-Greek seaway. This is favoured by human trafficking, which is flourishing in the fallen-apart Libya, and the former tendency of North Africans trying to make their way through Turkey will end.

From another point, this number is actually the biggest number that has been said in relation to the topic. The French defensive minister talked about 800 thousand people on the 24th of March, EU’s foreign affairs representative, Federica Mogherini mentioned 450 thousand in her letter in March, in which she encouraged further steps.

The question is, how many will be able to enter Europe with the strengthened fleet presence of both EU and NATO at the Libyan coasts? Last year, 160 thousand people went to Italy taking this route, while only 1.3 million people asked for refugee status in the EU. People need to count with the 450 thousand – 1 million people,based on this information.

Billboard2: The Paris assassinations were committed by immigrants.

The background of the committing of Islamist assassinations in Europe is usually easy to define. Young people born in the EU of North African ancestry feel isolated in the skirts of the cities, don’t feel that the country, where their parents immigrated, is their own.

billboard2

The social network nourishes them without them having to work, they swing from side to side or become criminals, come to hate Europe, become radical and then murder. Their parents are shocked to realise that their kid became a terrorist since they have a better life there than they would have in their homeland, they have built and existence, enterprise.

The excogitative and commander of the Paris assassination in the November of 2015, Abdelhamid Abaaoud was Belgian of Moroccan ancestry, his father immigrated to Belgium in 1975. He committed the terrorist attack with the people recruited by the Belgian born and Belgian citizen Salah Abdeslaam.

At the same time it is a fact that there were some among the assassins who were able to get back to Europe with the help of the immigrant crisis.

Billboard3: The number of harassment against women has been dynamically growing in Europe since the immigrant crisis.

Index.hu hasn’t found concrete statistical data about this but it is a fact that the molestation cases in the last couple of months staggered whole Europe. Two thousand people harassed women in Cologne at the main square at New Year’s Eve, and the same thing happened in Sweden at a festival. The news about the German swimming pool molestations went around the world as well.

billboard3

The crowds of young men brought up in the Muslim culture, who arrive to Europe without parents, might feel like European women are offering themselves through their behaviour and clothing so the line is clear.

It will be Europe’s task to explain cultural differences to refugees and practice zero tolerance in cases like this while not running into suppression. Also, we should keep in mind that more than one million refugees came to Europe last year and cases should be analysed according to this.

Billboard4: More than 300 people died in terrorist attacks in Europe since the beginning of the immigrant crisis.

In November, 2015 128 people died in Paris, 34 in Brussels in the airport and metro bombings in March and 84 last week in Nice due to a running amok. These were the biggest attacks which overtook 246 people all together. If we interpret the definitions of a terrorist attack and the beginning of the immigration crisis in a more extended way, then we can also count the 17 victims of the Charlie Hebdo assassination, the shooting of one of the relatives of the perpetrators a few days later in a kosher shop, the case of the man from Lyon who beheaded his boss, the two victims of a stabber in Magnanville and the two victims of a shooting in Copenhagen. This still doesn’t add up to 300, only if we count the Islamic State assassinations in Turkey.

billboard4

While even the life of one human is too much and it’s not worth talking about deaths numerically, the conflating of different things is not good either. Of course, you could look at it this way: if there were no Muslim immigrants in Europe then there wouldn’t be Islamist terrorism, but the way assassinations go is not like ‘one arrives now and will detonate next year’.

The invigoration of the Islamic state and the spread of radical ideas are more likely to affect second-generation Muslims, who were born in Europe but feel isolated. And hundreds of thousands of people are escaping to Europe from the chaos that was caused by the same blindfold thinking in their homeland, which shepherds European Muslims towards terrorism. This campaign conflates them with those ruining their lives.

Billboard5: Brussels wants to settle a city-worth illegal immigrants in Hungary.

People who imagine an immigrant herd worth a big city on the streets probably shiver from head to toe after reading this sentence. However, the sentence is tricky because if you look at it closely, you realise that it has no concrete facts.

billboard5

There’s nothing about duration or how big city the government is referring to. Debrecen and Berettyóújfalu are both cities but there is a big difference between their population of 200 thousand or 15 thousand people. So the advertisement doesn’t refer to a concrete city.

This topic in the argumentation of the government actually came up last year. Antal Rogán talked about the European Commission and the way they define the settling quota in the parliament last November. He said that “it could force Hungary to settle 15 thousand people per year”. This is true, if we count with 1 million 200 thousand immigrants arriving in Europe in a year.

“Considering the family reunions, this could mean the settling of as much people as the population of Szeged in five years” said the minister. Szeged’s population is around 160 thousand, so the way the government counts is 15 thousand x 5 = 75 thousand plus 85 thousand family members.

Last December, the government’s website and a video advertised that “only 160 thousand people would be settled in Hungary by the obligatory quotas” but the Helsinki Commission re-counted and it turned out that the number affects the whole EU, namely, in a five years perspective. There would only be 1294 people settled in Hungary according to the decision made last autumn. This was what the Hungarian government attacked in the European Court of Justice.

There are no numbers and perspectives in the current campaign. So it’s hard to argue with the statement without facts. Moreover, EU commissary Tibor Navracsics said that the EU would only partition the legal refugees if they posed too much weight for a country, probably like Germany.

Billboard6: One and a half million illegal immigrants came to Europe last year.

It’s hard to tell officially the number of immigrants who arrived in Europe last year as different organisations have different data. According to BBC’s compilation, if we look at asylum-seekers then the number was 1,321,560 in 2015 by the data of Eurostat. This includes immigrants who asked for asylum in the non EU member Norway and Switzerland.

billboard6

EU’s border defence agency, the Frontex registered a higher number: according to them, 1,800,000 immigrants came to Europe in 2015.

The difference can be caused by the fact that not all entrants ask for asylum, meaning that they’re in Europe illegally, but Index failed to find the real cause of the 480,000 difference.

So the government is not exaggerating with the one and half million number, it is correct in order of magnitude. By the way, the total population of the European Union is 500 million people.

Photos: www.kormany.hu, MTI

Copy editor: bm

Opposition call on government to stop further spending on EU quota referendum

Budapest, July 21 (MTI) – The opposition Együtt party calls on the government to stop spending further funds worth several billion forints on the EU migrant quota referendum’s campaign, the party said on Thursday.

The government-initiated national referendum is set to be held on October 2.

Együtt responded to cabinet chief Antal Rogán saying on Wednesday that further funds were planned to be allocated in August for the purpose.

Rogán’s remarks suggest that the 3 billion forints (EUR 9.5m) earmarked for the campaign before “have run out,” the party said in a statement.

Együtt said the campaign only served the governing party’s interest and called on the government to be a partner in devising a common European solution to the migration issue.

Hungarian government: Quota referendum needed more than ever

Budapest, July 20 (MTI) – The Hungarian government believes that its planned referendum on EU migrant quotas is now needed more than ever, Antal Rogán, the cabinet chief, said on Wednesday.

At a press conference following a cabinet session convened to discuss the European Commission’s quota scheme, Rogán said the government had reached the standpoint that there was now “a threat of great danger” and that the Brussels proposal would totally deprive member states of their legal powers in the area of refugee and immigration policy.

He added that the commission’s proposal is not simply about the mandatory distribution of migrants among EU member states but also concerned withdrawing from countries their right to judge asylum requests.

Rogán said the commission wanted to set up a jointly run European refugee office in which the “outstretched hands of the Brussels bureaucracy” would assess all asylum and immigration claims and decide on whom to accept before distributing them among the 28 members of the EU.

Quota referendum

“This is completely unacceptable and would present a huge risk and danger…” he said, adding that it would make it clear that the mass influx into Europe would continue instead of signalling that it must come to a halt.

“The best kind of influx is zero influx,” he said.

The commission’s plan is a drawback for Hungary and the other countries belonging to the Visegrad Group not only because it would make settlements mandatory alongside sanctions for countries that do not accept migrants, but because money would probably be diverted away from farming subsidies and cohesion funding to pay for the upkeep of migrants, he said.

The cabinet chief said the government would raise objections to the commission’s plan at every available opportunity, starting with a summit of the V4 on Thursday.

Photo: MTI

Socialists propose Day of Free Europe

hungary eu flag

Budapest, July 9 (MTI) – Members of the Hungarian Socialist Party will not take part in the referendum called for October 2, instead they want to hold the first Day of Free Europe, said Gyula Molnár, recently elected chairman of the opposition party in Keszthely (W Hungary) on Saturday.

Speaking at a press conference held jointly with former party chairman Attila Mesterházy, Molnár said the October 2 referendum “has no legal consequence, its subject does not actually exist and it’s about nothing else but a silly message to Brussels”.

The Socialist party wants to send a message by staying away from the vote and holding the first Day of Free Europe instead. Molnár said they will welcome to the event all parties, civil organisations and trade unions who agree that “we want to stay in Europe”, and will together discuss how we imagine our future in Europe.

He said “our parents and grandparents used to listen in secret to Radio Free Europe”, dreaming about the Europe that radio represented. Today, “these young men seem to be throwing away the dream of our parents and grandparents and seem to want to lead this country out of Europe”, he added, referring to politicians of the ruling Fidesz party.

In recent days, “very important government officials seemed to suggest that they know of an alternative for Hungary outside the European Union. If this is the case, they should honestly tell us where we will get 8,000 billion forints for developments … and what kind of a country it will be if it’s not within Europe,” the Socialist chairman said.

Mesterházy said he believes government officials have started drafting a script for a referendum for Hungary to be held after 2020, trying “to prepare the majority of the Hungarian people to vote in favour of an exit.” This would take place after 2020, he said, because by then the large amounts of European Union funding would dry up and “their cronies would no longer be able to pocket the money”.

In a statement published in response to the Socialists’ criticism, Fidesz said the officials of MSZP want to implement the forced settlement of immigrants proposed by the European Union.

On October 2, everybody will express their opinion on the forced settlement and the pro-immigration policy of Brussels. Either by rejecting the forced settlement with a ‘no’ vote or by abstaining from voting and thereby saying ‘yes’ to the settlement of immigrants, Fidesz said in the statement.

Justice minister says referendum in line with constitution

Budapest, July 6 (MTI) – Hungary’s upcoming quota referendum is fully in line with the constitution, László Trócsányi, the justice minister, said on Wednesday.

At a press conference, Trocsanyi insisted that the European Union cannot settle migrants in Hungary because “Hungary has not authorised Brussels” to do so. He argued that decisions concerning the population of an EU member are in national competence.

Migration is a cardinal issue, and voters have a constitutional right to make direct decisions on issues with a major impact on the country, Trócsányi said.

MTI Photo: Zoltán Máthé
MTI Photo: Zoltán Máthé

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told the same press conference that “Brussels is running into a dead end with its immigration policy” and insisted that “on such issues people have the right to voice their opinion”.

“There is a lot at stake at the referendum”, Szijjártó said, and argued that Hungary, in a “Europe upside down” was a “safe place”. He said as a result of policies in Brussels, a situation will return where “tens of thousands are crossing Europe’s border with no control, whenever and wherever they wished”.

Photo: MTI

President sets October 2 as date for national referendum on EU migrant quota – UPDATE

flag Hungarian

Budapest, July 5 (MTI) – President János Áder has set the date for the government-initiated referendum on the EU’s mandatory migrant quota scheme for October 2.

In the referendum, Hungary’s 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?”

Under the election procedures law, the official campaign may start 50 days before the referendum date. Political advertisements are not allowed in any media unless they submit their promotion price list to the State Audit Office (ÁSZ) in advance.

Hungary has a voter base of some 8 million nationals with a permanent address in the country.

Hungarian nationals without a residence in Hungary are allowed to vote by mail. Letters containing the vote can also be submitted to Hungary’s representative offices, or at any local election office in Hungary.

Hungarian residents staying outside the country can vote at any Hungarian representation in foreign countries, however, they need to register with the public notary of their residence until September 24.

The referendum plan was announced by the prime minister on February 24. The reason given by the government was that only Hungarians rather than Brussels could decide who they want to live together with in their own country.

The question was approved by the National Election Committee in late February.

Four appeals against the committee’s approval were then submitted, which the Kuria, Hungary’s supreme court, rejected in early May.

Parliament approved the initiative on May 10 with 136 votes in favour by the allied ruling Fidesz and Christian Democratic parties, and opposition Jobbik. Five independent lawmakers voted against.

The Constitutional Court rejected appeals against the initiative on June 21 giving the president 15 days to set the date of the referendum, which should fall on a Sunday.

UPDATE

Hungarian government

The prime minister’s cabinet chief encouraged voters to participate in the referendum and reject “Brussels’ forced settlement” scheme. At a press conference, Antal Rogán insisted it was “up to Hungarians to decide who they want to live together with”.

Rogán said that the government would continue placing “informative” advertisements in the papers, but after August 20 they will work on “presenting the government’s position more clearly” and broadly.

Democratic Coalition

The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) said in reaction to the announcement that the government “has started preparations for Hungary to leave the European Union”.

DK deputy leader Csaba Molnár said that a valid referendum would be “a prelude” to leaving the community, and urged supporters to boycott the vote. “Those who stay away will by default vote for Hungary’s remaining a member,” he argued.

JOBBIK

Radical nationalist Jobbik, on the other hand, encouraged residents to participate and vote against the quota. Jobbik spokesman Ádám Mirkóczki said that his party was against “any senseless diktat from Brussels”.

Liberals

The Liberal Party also promotes participation in the national vote. Party leader Gábor Fodor said that the referendum question was “sham and manipulative” because the EU would not force settlement of migrants in Hungary; it only expects Hungary to complete asylum procedures for 1,294 migrants. People should turn up and vote in favour of European values and thwart the government’s initiative, he insisted.

Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party

With its “senseless and invalid” referendum question and “hate mongering”, the Dialogue for Hungary (PM) party’s spokesman said, the ruling Fidesz party is seeking to divert attention from real problems such as poverty, low wages, corruption and the ailing health-care and education sectors. Bence Tordai called on voters to boycott the referendum.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

At a press conference in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was asked whether she was concerned that the Hungarian referendum would exacerbate divisions within the EU. Merkel said the Hungarian prime minister’s opinion on migrants “is already known”, and she did not expect “any change from the referendum to the current situation”.

Socialist MEP turns to top court over migrant quota referendum – UPDATE

Budapest, July 4 (MTI) – Socialist MEP Tibor Szanyi has filed a complaint to the Constitutional Court over the Hungarian supreme court’s decision to greenlight the government-initiated referendum on the European Union’s mandatory migrant quota plan.

Szanyi told a press conference on Monday that the referendum “severely violates” the EU’s sovereignty, as the bloc’s 2007 Lisbon Treaty declares asylum policy a common policy.

The issue also concerns the budget, Szanyi said, arguing that under the quota plan, Hungary would have to pay 79 million forints (EUR 250,000) for every refugee it turns away. This would cost the state a total of 102 billion forints, he said, noting that Hungary would have to take in 1,294 people under the scheme.

He noted that a prior appeal he had submitted to the Constitutional Court against parliament’s approval of the referendum was turned down last month.

Szanyi said he would turn to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if President János Áder sets the date for the referendum before his complaint is reviewed.

The Kúria, Hungary’s supreme court, greenlit the national referendum on May 3 and it was then approved by lawmakers on May 10. A total of four appeals were submitted to the Constitutional Court in connection with the referendum; one against the Kuria’s decision and three against parliament’s. The Constitutional Court rejected all four appeals on June 21. Under the referendum law, the president has to announce the date of the referendum within 15 days of the court’s decision.

Update

István Hollik, MP of the co-ruling Christian Democrats, reacted by saying that Hungary’s left wing had “failed to hear the voice of the people” and accusing it of “working to implement forced settlement plans by Brussels”. The “pro-immigration Socialists support Brussels’ immigration policy, just as George Soros does,” Hollik insisted, referring to the Hungarian-born American financier. It is up to the Hungarian people to decide whom they want to live together with, Hollik said.

Photo: MTI

Socialists submit signatures for referendum on state land sale

agriculture Hungary labour shortage

Budapest, June 28 (MTI) – A deputy leader of the opposition Socialists on Tuesday submitted over 200,000 signatures to the National Election Office (NVI) to initiate a national referendum on preventing the further sale of state-owned farmland.

The party has collected close to 240,000 signatures, well over the limit of 200,000 required by law for a nationwide referendum to be called by Hungary’s parliament, Zoltán Gőgös told a press conference at NVI’s headquarters in central Budapest. He thanked the opposition LMP, PM, Egyutt and Liberal parties, as well as independent lawmaker Zoltán Kész and trade unions for their help in collecting signatures.

The referendum will not only concern the issue of farmland sale but will be a vote “against ruling Fidesz and the government,” Gőgös said.

The referendum initiative was submitted by Gőgös at the beginning of this year with a view to asking the public if parliament should ban the sale of state-owned farmland by law.

Gőgös said that 10 percent, or 200,000 hectares, of Hungary’s 2 million hectares of state-owned farmland had already been auctioned off under the government’s privatisation programme.

The ruling Fidesz party responded by calling the Socialists’ referendum initiative “frivolous”. János Halász, spokesman for the party’s parliamentary group, told MTI that during the time it took the Socialists to collect “a little over 200,000 signatures” for their initiative, the Fidesz party managed to collect two million signatures in support of the referendum on the European Union’s migrant quota scheme. Halász said this made it clear that Hungarians consider migration and the quota plan the most important issues and that these are what they want to express their opinion on.

He said the election office would still have to review the signatures collected by the Socialists to validate them, noting that the leftist parties had failed to collect the required 200,000 signatures for a referendum on the introduction of a 2 million forint (EUR 6,310) cap on public officials’ salaries.

Leftist opposition criticises Orbán over “anti-EU” remarks

Budapest, June 27 (MTI) – Prime Minister Viktor Orbán should stop pursuing his “anti-EU” policies and cancel the government’s national referendum on mandatory migrant quotas to be held in the autumn, the opposition Democratic Coalition said on Monday.

“With the referendum Hungary, too, may end up finding itself outside the EU,” a spokesman for the leftist party said.

Zsolt Gréczy criticised the prime minister for his remarks at a graduation ceremony of officers over the weekend, accusing Orbán of misunderstanding Brexit.

Orbán, who campaigned in the British press for the UK remaining in the bloc, stroke an opposite, anti-EU tone in his weekend speech, Gréczy said, in reference to the prime minister praising the British for “taking their fate back into their own hands”.

“Orbán may have failed to realise that Britons are not celebrating the referendum’s outcome at all, given that uncertainty and an economic crisis are to follow,” he added.

Gréczy criticised Orbán for being cynical in saying that in the future, countries which maintain order, provide security and uphold legality will have an advantage.

Orbán made his remarks as prime minister of a country where the chief prosecution is led by a “Fidesz crony”, where issuing fictitious state bonds worth hundreds of billions of forints goes unpunished and where corruption surrounds the sale of local council flats, said Gréczy.

The opposition Liberal Party has also criticised Orbán for his “very controversial” statements regarding the European Union. Gábor Fodor, the party’s leader, told a press conference on Monday that he had circulated a letter among lawmakers, asking them to confirm their commitment to the EU in light of the UK’s Leave vote. He added that Orbán should give a clear answer to where he stands on Hungary leaving the union, as his recent statements have been ambiguous.

The prime minister is obviously using double talk, as the rhetoric of his weekend speech suggested his sympathies lied with the British vote and he thinks that Brexit is an example to be followed, Fodor said. The Liberals urge Hungarians to take part in the quota referendum in the autumn and to “vote against Orbán”.

The co-ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrats said DK, the party of former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, will do “anything to thwart the referendum on migrant quotas”. A democrat would never do anything to protest a referendum, István Hollik, a spokesman for the ruling parties, told MTI. Yet Gyurcsány is resorting to all means to stop the referendum, because he is pro-immigration, like Brussels, Hollik added. This kind of an approach is what has steered Europe into trouble and to what Britain now responded with Brexit. “Britain wants nothing to do with a Europe where people’s opinions are not heard,” he added. On the other hand, Hungarians want to reform the bloc from within and would be crazy to want to leave it, he said.