The European Commission has said that it took note of the referendum on migrant quotas in Hungary on Sunday and that it was up to Budapest to deal with the outcome, Reuters reports today.
Almost all Hungarians who voted in Sunday's referendum rejected the European Union's migrant quotas but turnout was too low to make the poll legally binding, however the prime minister declared that the results were politcally binding.
"If the referendum had been legally valid, our comment would have been that we take note of it. Since it was declared legally void by the Hungarian electoral commission we can now say that we also take note of it," Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said.
"We believe it is for the Hungarian government to decide how to deal with the outcome of this national referendum," he added.
Today's 3.3 million "no" voters constitute one of the strongest mandates of any vote -- in a referendum or any popular election -- in Hungary since 1989. Rarely have so many Hungarian voters turned out to cast a ballot in support of one cause as they did in Sunday's referendum.