Hungary must make it clear to Brussels that it wants no part of the migrant quota system, Gábor Vona, leader of the country’s radical nationalist Jobbik party, said at a demonstration his party organised against the EU’s migration policy, in front of the European Commission Representation in Hungary on Wednesday.
Signature drives are no longer enough after the Paris attacks, the government must hold a referendum on the quota system, Mr. Vona told the gathering of hundreds of protesters in Lövőház utca, District II, pointing out that the threat of terrorism has risen “tremendously” since last Friday. Mr. Vona said the result of a binding referendum “would spread like wildfire across Europe”. He said Europeans disagree with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on the handling of incoming migrants, adding that the two leaders “are afraid to ask the people” what they should do about the migration crisis.
Mr. Vona said his party’s “message to the world” is that “if 100 000 migrants come to our borders, we will send 100 000 people to protect it, if one million arrive, we will send one million and if even more migrants arrive then all 10 million of us will go there … Hungary will remain ours until our last breaths!” He compared the quota scheme to a “house party gone wrong” where the party-goers crash at the neighbour’s house for the night. He said that all political parties need to unite in order to block the scheme. Mr. Vona said his party was pro-European and that it considers European values important and wants a strong Europe. The EU, however, is “full of mistakes and exploitation”, he said. Vona said he did not expect Europe’s migration pressure to ease anytime soon since millions of people in Asia, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa are waiting to set off for Europe.
The party leader said he respects all religions “in search of God and seeking to bring man closer to God” and that he does not conflate the Islamic State militant group, terrorism or migration with the religion of Islam, however adding that the followers of every religion are “entitled to live only on their own land and not on someone else’s”. He said that he would even object to Christians fleeing from Boko Haram entering Europe because the continent and Hungary are unable to take in millions of people whose customs differ fundamentally from those of Europeans.
