Two weeks before its referendum on future European migration policies, the Hungarian government was in Brussels on Monday 19 September to argue its vision of an EU with no compulsory “quotas” of asylum seekers and to deliver its condemnation of the institutions’ policy which, it says, violates the sovereignty of the member states.
“We would like the European institutions to hear our message”, stated Hungarian government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs. Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic all feel they are not sufficiently taken into account and Kovacs would like changes to be brought to the way decisions are made in Europe because too often they seem to be “self-made”.
Stressing that the referendum of 2 October was not about the relocation decisions taken in 2015 or on the quotas of people that Hungary has been allocated to receive, but on future policies, “we still consider these decisions illegal”, he stated. Once again pointing the finger at Greece, which “is not meeting its obligations”, as in 2015, Kovacs also underlined that Hungary did not intend to take back the asylum seekers who travelled through Hungary and on to other member states. “We don’t have to take responsibility for others” and their shortcomings.
Binding outcome in Hungary. The Hungarian government says that the referendum is essentially to send a clear message to the European institutions which, the spokesperson said, do not take sufficient account of the Eastern European countries, even though they are economically credible. The Hungarian parliament will be required to make the result legally binding. This message will be “inevitable” for the EU, he went on to say. It is also about reminding the member states that the European Council had agreed a principle of voluntary sharing (on 23 April and 26 June 2015) and that ministers thereafter adopted a binding act that was twice proposed by the Commission.
“The Commission tricked us”, stated Kovacs, pointing out that the treaty is clear on migration and that “the people of Hungary have never agreed” to transfer competency in this area. The Bratislava statement and roadmap, adopted by the 27 heads of state and/or government on 16 September is not entirely satisfactory either, he complained further (EUROPE 11626). “We weren’t able to change” the position of the western countries on migration, he added.
And yet German Chancellor Angela Merkel seemed to make concessions on relocation plans at the summit and Jean-Claude Juncker, too, acknowledged on 14 September that solidarity “cannot be imposed”. Budapest, however, does not see this as necessarily meaning that the relocation decisions have been consigned to the past. The Commission spokespersons continue to say that “they remain on the table”, Kovacs added.
“Do you want the European Union to impose the compulsory relocation of non-Hungarians in Hungary without the approval of the Hungarian parliament?” That is the question the Hungarian electorate will have to answer on 2 October. The referendum, however, is definitely not about the country’s leaving or remaining in the EU, Kovacs stressed – even though the outcome of the UK referendum is, in his view, the “result of bad policy-making in Brussels”. The referendum of 2 October will have the further objective of “clarifying the role and sovereignty of the European institutions”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)