The goal of the European Commission’s proposal on migrant quotas is to redistribute the weight of the refugee crisis from countries such as Greece by introducing automatic asylum quotas for each EU member state.
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“As president of the republic I decree that the referendum will be held on October 2”, President Janos Ader said in a statement on Tuesday.
The Hungarian referendum, largely expected to halt migrant flow, will be merely the latest slap in the face of European cohesion and unity, and its passage is certain to impose even further limitations on the “free flow” of individuals across the customs union which with every passing day is becoming increasingly less that and more a loose cohesion of states unbound by any overarching federalism or ideology.
Hungary announced Tuesday a referendum on taking in migrants under a troubled European Union quota plan, a scheme that right-wing Prime Minister and fierce Brussels critic Viktor Orban has vehemently rejected.
As of July 1, fewer than 2,800 people – 789 from Italy and 1,994 from Greece – have been relocated, according to European Union data.
“The question has been phrased in such a way that it asks for an answer to the already prevailing government policy – the opinion of the Hungarian prime minister on refugees is well known”, Merkel said.
More than one million migrants and refugees arrived in the European Union in 2015, mostly by sea. In September 2015, in an attempt to prevent migrants from illegally crossing into Hungary, the government chose to erect a fence on the border with Serbia.
Hungary sealed its border with Serbia and Croatia and criminalised illegal entry in an effort to curb the influx.
On Tuesday new legislation took effect, returning any migrant found within eight kilometres (5.0 miles) to “transit zones” located in no-man’s land between Hungary and Serbia.
Rogan said human traffickers had begun to use drones to monitor the movement of Hungarian border patrols, adding Hungary would inform Serbian authorities about this.
The Cabinet, which has led a billboard campaign against immigrants and built fortifications to keep them out, proposed the referendum before United Kingdom citizens decided last month to leave the bloc.
“The British wanted to find a way to resist this exodus of modern times”, Orban said.
The referendum is valid only if turnout is at least 50 percent.
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Hungary’s radical Jobbik Party called on its constituents to support the government’s initiative, while some other opposition parties announced they would boycott the vote.
