On the 2nd of October, 2016, the Hungarian people will be asked to vote on the following question: Do you want to allow the European Union to mandate the resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens to Hungary without the approval of the Parliament?
There is much to be said about the way the question is formulated, the bias it includes and the way in which it pre-empts the answer favoured by the government. Yet, we should not forget what lies beneath the workings of rhetoric and deception: What is the relocation scheme of the European Union actually about?
In May 2015, the European Commission first proposed what is called an “European Agenda on Migration”. In the light of this agenda, the EU proposed an “emergency relocation” scheme that first intended the relocation of 40000 migrants from “Member States most affected” and that was then raised to a total of 160000 people in September 2015. At the time, the Commission called for relocating migrants from three EU member states: Greece, Italy and Hungary. Due to fierce rejection from the side of the Hungarian government, however, the commission had removed Hungary from the list of countries from which people ought to be resettled. To make it clear: this would have been a resettlement program, but resettlement of people away from Hungary. In the last report on relocation and resettlement, the commission only talks about providing “support” for Greece and Italy. Additionally, since most people seeking refuge have not remained in or are barred brutally from seeking refuge in Hungary in the first place, Hungary is no longer eligible for countries “sending” refugees to other member states. Or, in the language of the EU commission, Hungary is no longer under “extreme pressure”. Hungary thus finds itself on the list of countries to which people seeking protection should be relocated to. It is this that the Hungarian government also vehemently rejects.
There is much to be said about the way the question is formulated, the bias it includes and the way in which it pre-empts the answer favoured by the government. Yet, we should not forget what lies beneath the workings of rhetoric and deception: What is the relocation scheme of the European Union actually about?
In May 2015, the European Commission first proposed what is called an “European Agenda on Migration”. In the light of this agenda, the EU proposed an “emergency relocation” scheme that first intended the relocation of 40000 migrants from “Member States most affected” and that was then raised to a total of 160000 people in September 2015. At the time, the Commission called for relocating migrants from three EU member states: Greece, Italy and Hungary. Due to fierce rejection from the side of the Hungarian government, however, the commission had removed Hungary from the list of countries from which people ought to be resettled. To make it clear: this would have been a resettlement program, but resettlement of people away from Hungary. In the last report on relocation and resettlement, the commission only talks about providing “support” for Greece and Italy. Additionally, since most people seeking refuge have not remained in or are barred brutally from seeking refuge in Hungary in the first place, Hungary is no longer eligible for countries “sending” refugees to other member states. Or, in the language of the EU commission, Hungary is no longer under “extreme pressure”. Hungary thus finds itself on the list of countries to which people seeking protection should be relocated to. It is this that the Hungarian government also vehemently rejects.
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