Parliament decided to order the referendum with 136 government party and Jobbik votes in favour and 5 votes against from independent MPs.
The question to be put to the public at the referendum is as follows: “Do you agree that the European Union should have the power to impose the compulsory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary without the consent of the National Assembly of Hungary”.
The parliamentary decision adopted today also states that a maximum of 4.9 billion forints (EUR 15.5M) may be spent on organising the referendum, which is expected to be held in early autumn. 500 million forints of this budget may be provided from funding previously awarded to the National Election Office.
Last week, the Curia rejected requests for legal redress submitted with regard to the National Election Office’s decision, thus giving the referendum the go-ahead.
15 days area available to submit possible complaints to the Constitutional Court with regard to today’s decision by Parliament; the body must review complaints within 30 days.
The official decision to order the referendum must also be published in the Hungarian Gazette. The date for the referendum will be set within 15 days by the President of the Republic; the referendum must take place on a Sunday between seventy and ninety days from the day is it is set.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on 24 February that the Government was initiating a national referendum on the compulsory resettlement quota.
Head of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister Antal Rogán said last week that the earliest date for the referendum was expected to be in September or early October.
The Government justified the need for a referendum with the fact that instead of Brussels only the people of Hungary can decide who they want to share their country with.
According to the Government, the referendum is becoming increasingly urgent because compulsory resettlement is a real and imminent danger, EU negotiations on the subject have begun and progress on the issue is now expected to become more rapid.
The European Commission’s proposal for compulsory resettlement and imposing a fine on countries that say no to the resettlement of immigrants was made public recently.
Brussels’ plan for the compulsory resettlement of immigrants and imposing related fines is unacceptable and contravenes both EU regulations and the European Union’s Basic Treaty. The Brussels politicians have simply lost their connection with reality and with their electorate and are asking as much money for a single migrant as an average Hungarian earns during 40 years of work. Brussels wants to charge 80 million forints per immigrant whereas it only spends 1 million forints on each Hungarian citizen.
According to the Government’s standpoint, the people of Hungary can use the referendum to stop Brussels and say no to the compulsory resettlement planned by Brussels.
Compulsory resettlement is therefore also an issue of sovereignty. The Government will be asking the people of Hungary to vote no to compulsory resettlement and make it clear that only the Hungarians can decide who we will admit into the country and who we will not. Those who vote no will be protecting Hungary’s independence from Brussels and will be saying no to compulsory resettlement.
(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister)
