Socialist MEP turns to top court over migrant quota referendum – UPDATE

Budapest, July 4 (MTI) – Socialist MEP Tibor Szanyi has filed a complaint to the Constitutional Court over the Hungarian supreme court’s decision to greenlight the government-initiated referendum on the European Union’s mandatory migrant quota plan.

Szanyi told a press conference on Monday that the referendum “severely violates” the EU’s sovereignty, as the bloc’s 2007 Lisbon Treaty declares asylum policy a common policy.

The issue also concerns the budget, Szanyi said, arguing that under the quota plan, Hungary would have to pay 79 million forints (EUR 250,000) for every refugee it turns away. This would cost the state a total of 102 billion forints, he said, noting that Hungary would have to take in 1,294 people under the scheme.

He noted that a prior appeal he had submitted to the Constitutional Court against parliament’s approval of the referendum was turned down last month.

Szanyi said he would turn to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if President János Áder sets the date for the referendum before his complaint is reviewed.