Budapest (MTI) – The radical nationalist Jobbik party wants local referendums to decide whether migrant reception facilities should be set up in Hungarian towns and villages.
Deputy chair Elod Novak said at a party event marking the August 20 national holiday that a proposal has already been submitted to parliament and it could be passed at an upcoming extraordinary session.
The government should not go against the will of the people, he said. He referred to the southern Hungarian village of Martonfa where a reception facility is planned to be set up despite the villagers “not wanting alien settlers and not wanting the government’s settlement policy”.
Jobbik deputy leader Janos Volner said the government should make it clear that “the United States is responsible” for the wave of migrants since it “interfered in Syria and Afghanistan”, countries that could previously keep the extremists under control. The ruling Fidesz party only offers a “symptomatic treatment” to the problems of migration and the real solution would require setting up a dedicated border guard, making refugee camps into closed facilities and expelling border violators, he insisted.
Martonfa mayor Andras Bosnyak said it is “disproportionate” that a reception facilitiy for 1,000 people is to be set up next to a village with 200 residents. He pledged to start an act of civil disobedience and added that the area selected for the new facility would be guarded by radical paramilitary activists in cooperation with local Roma, putting aside their differences.
Photo: MTI