During recess of the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday Antal Rogán, Head of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister said that Brussels’ proposed asylum system, which has recently been published is unacceptable. The Government of Hungary is of the opinion that the referendum on mandatory relocation is more justified than ever.
Mr. Rogán said that the Cabinet has reached the conclusion that Europe is under great threat, and therefore the referendum has never been more justified than it is now, as the proposal of the Commission would take away Member States’ every competency in the field of asylum and migration issues.
The Minister added that the proposal does not only provide for the mandatory distribution of migrants arriving and being received in Europe in some way, but it would also take away Member States’ competency to evaluate asylum applications.
He said that the Commission would establish a joint European asylum office, which would evaluate all migration and asylum applications as “the extended arm of Brussels’ bureaucracy”, it would decide on who should be received in Europe, after which the Commission would distribute those received in a mandatory manner among the 28 EU Member States.
Mr. Rogán emphasised that the Government’s position is that this proposal is absolutely unacceptable; it carries great risks and poses a great threat, because the proposed system makes it clear that the influx of migrants into Europe will continue, whereas it should be stopped. “The best influx is zero influx”, he stressed, adding that the protection of borders should be the priority instead of the establishment of a joint asylum system that promotes migration.
The Minister said that the proposal is not only disadvantageous for Hungary and the Visegrád countries because it makes the reception of migrants mandatory, and sanctions countries that do not wish to receive migrants, but also because the reward of EUR 10,000 for receiving migrants would likely be deducted from the Cohesion Funds and agricultural subsidies, as formerly proposed by George Soros.
Mr. Rogán stressed that the Government of Hungary will raise its voice against the Commission’s proposal at every forum, firstly at the Visegrád summit to be held on Thursday, and then in Brussels. The Government will propose that when debating EU legislation of this nature, the Hungarian Parliament says no the Commission’s initiatives in a “red card procedure”, he added.