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Migrant quota: first it was only 40 thousand but now it’s limitless

The Hungarian Parliament today rejected the European Parliament’s recent decision to establish a limitless and permanent migrant quota. In the resolution, Hungarian lawmakers said the decision would change irreversibly the continent’s future and called on the government to protect the country’s interests.

Remember back in 2015 when the European Commission put forth the idea of resettling 40 thousand migrants among EU member states in what would later become known as the infamous quota system? That number quickly tripled, jumping to 120 thousand, but all the while, the proponents of this solution were insisting that it was just a one-time measure. Brussels is now pushing forward with a proposal for a permanent quota system with no upper limit.

We’ve been raising the alarm for nearly two years now that certain forces in the EU machinery are determined to bring about a mandatory and automatic migrant resettlement quota system. A few months ago, when Hungary pushed back on the quota system, we were criticized on the grounds that there would be no mandatory quota. It was just a temporary, one-off measure, they said.

As the implementation of the Commission’s pro-immigration agenda got underway there was one big question left to answer, whether the European Parliament will join the EC’s efforts or not.

The pro-immigration lobby, of course, was not going to stop there. Now, the European Parliament has rallied to the Commission’s side by passing a regulation that calls for a limitless mandatory quota. That’s not simply an unfortunate political decision. It has serious implications for the security and future of Europe. In a nutshell, this means that when a conciliation committee assembles – that is, representatives of the EP, Commission and the Council – to discuss the reform of the Dublin system, at least two out of the three institutions will have a mandate to push for a new quota mechanism.

The Hungarian Parliament, on the other hand, acting in line with the results of the latest national consultation adopted today with a resounding majority a resolution that rejects the EP’s regulation on the grounds that a mandatory quota system would change irreversibly the continent’s future and culture. It also calls upon the government of Hungary to protect the country’s interests against the European Parliament and EU bureaucrats. The European Union must respect Hungary’s sovereignty and the will of its people.

Let’s be frank here. The proponents of the pro-immigration agenda (the Socialists, Liberals, Greens and the like) have not been straight with us. They claimed there wouldn’t be mandatory resettlements. Then they claimed it would only be a limited, one-time measure. But the recently adopted regulation calls for a permanent mechanism for admitting and resettling migrants without an upper limit.

At the same time, the scheme that was passed by the Council in 2015 – the supposedly one-off measure to resettle migrants – has been failing miserable. Over the course of the last two years, few more than 20,000 of the total 160,000 migrants have been resettled, a fact confirmed by S&D president Gianni Pitella in his interview last week with Hungarian state television channel M1. Pitella then goes on to blame Hungary for the failure of the previous quota. Certainly it has nothing to do with the fact that only a handful of countries did their part or that there weren’t even enough migrants processed by the system who could be relocated. It’s simpler just to blame it on Hungary.

In the same series of interviews M1 also spoke to MEPs Philippe Lamberts, Målin Björk, Sophie in ‘t Veld and Frank Engel. This time there’s nothing ambiguous about their message. They all support a mandatory and automatic quota system without upper limit on the number of migrants.

“Europe has to realize that we live on an island of security and in relative welfare,” Lamberts told M1. Exactly. Europe is undoubtedly the best place to live and this is why we need to protect it. Even today it is much less secure than it used to be. Over the last two years, we’ve seen 27 terrorist attacks in Europe, claiming the lives of 330 people and injuring 1,300 others. It simply defies reason and common sense to insist on a permanent, limitless quota system without taking security into account.

Meanwhile, a record number of Hungarians participated in the latest national consultation on the Soros plan. It is the sovereign right of every nation to decide who shall be permitted to live in its country. If it is the will of the people to keep immigration to a minimum, then the Hungarian government will safeguard the security of Hungary and the security of Europe.