“Tuesday’s statement by EU Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos once again proves that Brussels is continuing to push for the resettlement of immigrants and is threatening member states who are not prepared to participate in that”, the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister’s Parliamentary State Secretary told Hungarian news agency MTI in reaction to the Commissioner’s statements.

At a plenary meeting of the European Parliament (EP) on Tuesday, EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos said that it was the legal and moral obligation of the member states of the European Union to participate in the EU mechanism to resettle the 160 thousand asylum-seekers.

In a statement to MTI, Csaba Dömötör said no decision can be made on who we should accept that circumvents the Hungarians, because that would be contrary to fundamental democratic principles.

“The Government’s standpoint is that Hungary has already contributed significantly to European solidarity by undertaking a lion’s share of border protection”, the State Secretary said, adding that “Brussels would also do better to concentrate on border protection instead of spreading the consequences of its own mistaken policy”.

According to Mr. Dömötör, the debate in the European Parliament has also proven that Brussels is still thinking in terms of a resettlement mechanism with no upper limit, and political pressure aimed at achieving this is also getting increasingly strong. “The resolution on Hungary, which the European Parliament will be adopting this week, is also part of the application of this pressure”, he added.

“It is very clear from the statements coming out of Brussels on Tuesday that the questions included in the National Consultation are extremely actual and are of strategic significance with relation to the future of Hungary”, said the State Secretary, according to whom this is also one of the reasons that the fact that 1 million 431 thousand people have already voiced their opinions so far during the National Consultation is an important element of the Government’s political arsenal.

Mr. Dömtör indicated that in view of the continued high participation in the Consultation, and having taken into account the related proposal by Fidesz, the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister is expected to increase the deadline for the submission of National Consultation questionnaires.

(MTI)