At a press conference in Eger on Tuesday afternoon, György Bakondi, Chief Security Advisor to the Prime Minister, said that the referendum on the migrant quota is the only vehicle for the people of Hungary to express their opinion on an issue of grave importance affecting their future. We must also be prepared, he said, for the possibility of another wave of migrants setting off towards Hungary.

Speaking about the October referendum, Mr. Bakondi said that any responsible government must be prepared for the possibility of the EU-Turkey deal collapsing and people setting off towards Western Europe on the most prominent routes from Greece and Bulgaria through Hungary. In order to ensure the safety of the Hungarian people, violent illegal border crossings must be prevented by every legal means available, he said.

According to Mr. Bakondi, Europe has been facing security policy challenges never witnessed before – including the civil war in Ukraine, Brexit and illegal and aggressive mass migration. He pointed out that last year some 400,000 migrants arriving from 104 different countries crossed Hungary. These numbers also prove the error of claiming that we are only talking about those fleeing from the Syrian civil war, he emphasised.

This year some 19,000 migrants have tried to cross Hungary illegally, while about 26,000 asylum requests – including some from last year – have been registered by Hungarian authorities.

Mr. Bakondi pointed out that Brussels’ plans also involve the centralisation of asylum authority competences which are currently at national level. Hungary does not favour this idea, and takes the position that its culture, language, nationalities, jobs, health care, education and social welfare system must be preserved. We do not want others to tell us who we should live with, he said.

He said that it is not about every migrant being a terrorist. Migrants are victims in a number of respects: they are victims of their own governments, terrorists, people smugglers and the Brussels policy of offering false promises, he said. He added, however, that terrorists and Wahhabi missionaries spreading the doctrines of aggressive Islam and inciting terrorist acts are also arriving in Europe together with migrants.

Mr. Bakondi said that this is an issue of national importance which stands above party politics, but there are false arguments concerning migrants which are voiced both in Hungary and across Europe. He mentioned one of these arguments, which is that migration could give a huge boost to the job market; it has now turned out, however, that migrants lack language knowledge and other necessary skills. Using the word “solidarity” to argue against Hungary is also fallacious, he pointed out, since Hungary has been assisting those states which need to combat illegal and aggressive mass migration – just as it is also supporting various charity organisations.

According to Mr. Bakondi, the referendum is not about Hungary’s EU membership: the country has no reason to exit the European Union, but it wants to see a shift in the EU’s migration and security policy, he said.

Ministerial Commissioner and Fidesz MP for Eger Zsolt Nyitrai said that the October referendum is about the future of Hungary, but also about that of the counties and settlements. Austrian, German and Italian examples show that Brussels’ idea of mandatory relocation is also associated with serious security policy risks and costs for the counties and settlements involved.

He highlighted that these risks must not be accepted, and so in the national referendum as many “no” votes as possible are needed to reject mandatory relocation of migrants.

(MTI)