Fidesz: Decisions on immigration affect sovereignty

Baile Tusnad, Romania, July 22 (MTI) – It is a key issue of national sovereignty whether Hungary is allowed to determine the scope of its citizens and the conditions under which foreigners are let to enter its territory, Lajos Kósa, parliamentary leader of the ruling Fidesz party, said on Friday.

“We will never give up this right of ours,” Kósa said at the Bálványos Summer University in Baile Tusnad (Tusnádfürdő), in central Romania.

The national referendum on mandatory migrant quotas scheduled for October 2 will be meant to reinforce this sovereignty, he said.

Péter Harrach, parliamentary leader of the co-ruling Christian Democrats, said that real refugees should be granted protection, primarily in their home country. In turn, Europe should be protected from migrants driven by economic or welfare considerations.

Bernadett Szél, co-leader of the opposition LMP, said that regulating migration and immigration have always been and should remain national competences within the European Union. No nation should yield to blackmail, she said, arguing that Hungarian voters should reject the mandatory migrant quotas.

It is, however, quite unusual that the referendum on the quotas was initiated by the government, all the more so because other attempts to call a referendum have been hindered by those in power. One should make no distinction between referendums, she said.