Courtesy of Mish.
On 24 February 2016, Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán announced his government will hold a referendum on whether to accept the European Union’s proposed mandatory quotas for relocating migrants.
The referendum was deemed valid by the Hungarian constitutional court, and a vote is scheduled on October 2.
Ahead of the vote, Orbán ramped up rhetoric to the point of calling for a round-up of migrants and exportation to Africa.
Please consider Viktor Orban Calls for ‘Round-Up’ of Migrants in EU
“Those who came illegally must be rounded up and shipped out,” Mr Orban said in an interview released on Thursday by news website Origo.hu. He suggested an estimated 1.5m refugees and migrants who arrived on the continent last year should be sent to “an island or somewhere in north Africa” where European forces would enforce order. “That will solve all the problems,” he said.
“It’s the only solution that will work for everyone; for those of us who are not yet in trouble, because we protected ourselves. And also for countries like Germany, who are already in trouble,” he said. “The answer is to take [migrants] out of the union.”
Hungary sealed its border with Serbia last September, choking off the main route of migration into the EU via the western Balkans and diverting the flow westwards through Slovenia and Croatia. Other EU countries have since followed suit, although a German-sponsored EU deal with Turkey to reduce the influx of migrants has led to a drop in arrivals.
Mr Orban also took aim at Angela Merkel’s mea culpa this week, in which the German chancellor expressed regret that she could not “turn back the clock” to improve the country’s preparedness before she in effect welcomed in hundreds of thousands of migrants last year.
While her comments have been welcomed by some critics in Germany, the Hungarian premier suggested there was little substance behind them.
“What can I say about the German politicians and their policies?” he said. “I also would like to turn back the clock — what a great idea. But the problem is that it’s not possible.”
Merkel’s Alleged Mea Culpa
After a third place finish to AfD in her own state in recent German elections, then another big drubbing but a second place finish in Berlin, Merkel supposedly issued a Mea Culpa Aimed at Wooing Back Voters.
This was followed up with a message She Would Turn Back the Clock on Refugee Policy.
