According to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, the will of 3.3 million people cannot be ignored in Hungary, in Brussels, or throughout the EU, because that would be inadmissible.

In reply to a question on the quota referendum during a press conference on another topic, Mr. Szijjártó told reporters: 3.3 million votes is more than the number of people who voted for Hungary to join the EU in 2003 and more people took part in the referendum than voted in the last European Parliament elections, and nobody is questioning those.

“Based on the mandate we have now received ‘we will be fighting extremely tenaciously in Brussels’ to make sure that the EU decisions on the mandatory relocation quota are withdrawn”, he said.

The Minister stressed: “From the perspective of the future of the EU, the clear message of the referendum is that nobody can ignore the will of the European people and politics that go against that will cannot be pursued in Brussels or anywhere else”. “The standpoint of the Hungarian people was made very clear on Sunday”, he added.

In reply to a question concerning the possible effects of the referendum on migrants who are waiting in Serbia, the Foreign Minister told reporters: “The events of last year show that the immigrants arriving here “became impossible to manage and uncontrollably aggressive” after ambiguous statements began arriving from Western Europe”. “And both Immigrants and people smugglers willingly misunderstand every piece of ambiguous news”, he added. “Taking all possible steps to protect the southern border was the right thing to do and as a result we can now state that we are capable of maintaining border protection even if a new wave of immigrants begins moving towards Europe again”, Mr. Szijjártó declared.

(Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister/MTI)