The Parliament website has stated that on Monday Prime Minister Viktor Orbán submitted to the National Assembly his proposal for a constitutional amendment which would ban the collective relocation of non-Hungarians to Hungary.
According to the proposed amendment, a provision would be included in the Fundamental Law stating that non-Hungarians may not be relocated to Hungary. With the exception of citizens of states in the European Economic Area, non-Hungarian citizens will only be able to live in Hungary on the basis of individual requests which are authorised by the Hungarian authorities according to a procedure laid down in legislation adopted by the National Assembly.
Contents of the five-part amendment would also change the National Avowal, in which it would proclaim: “We hold that a fundamental duty of the State is protection of our constitutional identity, which is rooted in the historical constitution”.
The amendment also states that, in the interests of enabling Hungary to participate as a Member State of the European Union, the exercise of spheres of competence must be in harmony with the fundamental rights and freedoms laid down in the Fundamental Law, and shall not limit Hungary’s inalienable sovereignty over its territorial unity, population, form of government and state system.
If the Bill is adopted, the Constitution will also state that the protection of Hungary’s constitutional identity is the duty of every state organ. The proposed amendment would come into force the day after it is officially published.
The supporting argument of the Bill will refer to the fact that in 2015 an unprecedented level of migration reached the borders of Europe, with one and a half million people illegally crossing the external borders of the Schengen Area. The cultural and economic integration of these huge numbers of new immigrants poses an insurmountable task for Europe, while uncontrolled border crossing has significantly increased the threat of terrorism.
The European Union has attempted to distribute the immigrants arriving in Europe among its Member States by introducing a mandatory relocation quota, and, the supporting argument states, the Government of Hungary has been the first in Europe to initiate a referendum on this quota. In the referendum on 2 October, 98 per cent of people who submitted valid votes said “no” to mandatory relocation, and therefore we have seen the emergence of a new unity for Hungary which transcends political parties, and which regards the protection of the country’s sovereignty as a national issue.
The supporting argument states that the amendment is founded on the will of 3.3 million people, and “The unanimous will of that 98 per cent represents an obligation, and the task of endowing it with legislative force rests with the National Assembly”.
On 2 October, following the announcement of the preliminary results of the referendum, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced that he would be submitting to Parliament a proposal for a constitutional amendment, because “the will of the people must be laid down in the Fundamental Law”. In a radio interview on Sunday, Mr. Orbán indicated that he sees it as the right course of action to submit the constitutional amendment Bill personally as the Prime Minister, to give added weight to the will of the people.