Despite Its Denial, EU Commission's Bent on Setting Up Migrant Ghettos

European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer calls the claims in the questions appearing in Hungary's National Consultation on the protection of national sovereignty completely untrue. It's worth taking a closer look at the situation regarding each of these issues. Next in the series, Magyar Nemzet examines the consultation's question on migration.

Spielfeld, 2015. október 26. Migránsok az ausztriai Spielfeld és a szlovén Sentilj közötti határátkelõhely osztrák oldalán 2015. október 26-án. MTI Fotó: Varga György Fotó: Varga György

"The allegations in Hungary's National Consultation questions are completely untrue," and President Ursula von der Leyen was not at all concerned that she was featured on a poster campaign, European Commission Spokesman Eric Mamer said in response to Euronews' question. One of the eleven questions contained in the consultation deals with the issue of migration. 

The fourth question in the questionnaire reads: "Brussels wants to establish migrant ghettos in Hungary, as well. What do you think about this?". The two possible answers are: "Migrant ghettos should not be allowed in our country", and the other, "Brussels's migration plans must be accepted". 

Spain, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, put out information at the beginning of October 2023 that the ministers of the 27 member states agreed on the emergency provisions contained in the new migration pact. In fact, Hungary and Poland voted against the provisions, while Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia abstained.

At the moment, it looks as if the EU apparatus can force through the pact by April of next year.

According to the new provisions, should a migration crisis arise in any member state, the affected state could request a solidarity contribution from the other member states, which could take one of three forms.

-          Relocation of asylum seekers and those under international protection i.e. resettling them from the affected member state to the offering states.  

-          Conducting asylum procedures regarding applications submitted in the affected member state.

-          Financial support or alternative solidarity options. Offers of solidarity contribution are approved by the Council.

It is well known that the Hungarian voters have already said no to Brussels's mandatory resettlement plans in several elections and in a referendum back in October 2016. Then 3,362,224 citizens, more than 98 percent of valid votes cast expressed rejection of the quota proposal. Since the regime change to democracy, no political force has received as many votes in the elections.

Given this backdrop, it is no coincidence that on October 13, 2023, Viktor Orban told public media:

In Brussels today – and this will be a major battle in the coming months – they’re creating rules with which they’ll seek to force us to let in those migrants who are aggressive and violent, and who use weapons against Hungarian border guards at Hungary's southern borders. Brussels wants us to partake in the security risk they have been suffering from for years because of their bad decisions.

The prime minister pointed out that "the EU has decided to distribute refugees who have arrived in Europe illegally. We would also need to take in a few thousand. According to the EU’s current decision, we too would need to build a refugee camp, a migrant ghetto, for around ten thousand people, and we would need to keep the migrants there for a while – before letting them out. So they want to impose something bad on us."

"Despite our protest, a few weeks ago a new migration pact was approved. It is not only about mandatory distribution, but also about overriding Hungary's asylum rules," Csaba Domotor, state secretary at the prime minister’s cabinet, said recently.

Under the regulation, immigrants should be admitted before a decision is taken on their asylum application.

"If we agreed to this, camps would have to be reopened, for example, in Debrecen," the state secretary pointed out, adding that commissioners in Brussels have recently spoken quite openly about the need to bring as many immigrants as possible to Europe, because this will solve labor market problems.

Cover photo: Migrants at the Austrian side of the border crossing point between Spielfeld in Austria and Sentilj in Slovenia on October 26,  2015. (Photo: Gyorgy Varga)