Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has praised the Hungarian people for voting a resounding 98 percent 'no' against the EU's forced migration quotas.
“We can be proud of the fact that it is only in Hungary that people have been asked about the issue of immigration; we did the right thing and the Hungarians acted bravely in this matter,' the prime minister said during an interview on Kossuth Radio.
The most important thing now is preventing mandatory relocation, he said. In Hungary the people have had the chance to express their will and now the government must show that it is bound by the will of the people.
We have good reason to be proud about the fact that it is only here that they have dared to ask the people, and this means that “the standard of democracy is high in Hungary," he said.
The prime minister highlighted the fact that at the referendum the will of 3.3 million people pointed in the same direction and this is a larger mass of people than has ever given a vote of confidence to any political party in Hungary.
Parliament exists to debate issues and the text of the constitutional amendment is precisely such an issue, the Prime Minister explained.
He will present his exposé to the National Assembly on Monday, and they will consider the proposals of the opposition, and if there are any that are worthy of inclusion and worth including then they will do so, he said.
PM Orbán also spoke about the fact that international law is extremely clear. “People who are running for their lives must be allowed in”, and this is what Hungary did when Yugoslavia collapsed. Hungary has practise in how to act humanely, fairly and in accordance with international law," he noted.
A new unity has come about in Hungary; the people have clearly stated what they want and it is the government’s duty to try and enforce their will, “and I will do everything possible to ensure that we can enforce that will, and I believe we have a chance of success," the prime minister stressed.
According to Hungary’s standpoint, there are issues, issues of identity that nobody, including the EU’s legislation can affect; these are the fundamental questions of our national existence and if they can be affected by others then we are not the masters of our fate, and this is something we cannot accept, he said.
In reaction to criticism from Sweden, the prime minister said that how dare the Swedes say they are paying us money; Hungary is assenting to customs-free trade, we have allowed Swedish capital in, and so it is “impertinence” to claim that they are giving us money.
PM Orbán also spoke about the fact that 1956 is about freedom, which can be endangered by many factors including if “foreigners whose habits and whose concept of life is totally different from our own appear within a country’s territory without any kind of control” and transform our free society against our will. It is difficult to talk about 1956 and about freedom while disconnecting that from what is happening today, he said.
We are grateful to the President of Poland for coming to Budapest to attend the October 23 commemoration, because although 1956 was a Hungarian war of independence, the Polish were also involved and this is something we will not forget, he added.