Hungarian PM to Outline Steps After EU Migrant Quota Vote to Parliament

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is due to address the parliament of Hungary later on Monday to outline his further steps following a referendum on the quotas on migrant redistribution across EU countries, the government press office told Sputnik.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Sunday, the country held the referendum on EU migrant resettlement quotas, with less than 40 percent of Hungary's eligible voters taking part in it, according to the Hungarian National Election Office. The turnout of under 50 percent makes such a vote invalid. Among those who participated, the absolute majority — more than 98 percent — rejected the EU-iproposed quotas.

"Prime Minister Viktor Orban will deliver a speech in Parliament later today," the government press office said, when asked about Hungary's further plans in light of the referendum results.

On Sunday evening, despite the low turnout Orban described the result of the referendum as "excellent," mentioning that this referendum gathered around 15 percent more voters than the last elections to the European Parliament.

At the reception in Budapest, the prime minister also announced that following the referendum he would submit a proposal to the parliament on a constitutional amendment in order to set down the will of people in the Fundamental Law and suggested that extremely high proportion of no-voters still gave him a mandate to go to Brussels this week "to ensure that we should not be forced to accept in Hungary people we don't want to live with."

In September 2015, the European Commission announced its initiative to relocate 160,000 migrants across the bloc, including some 1,300 in Hungary. Orban was one of the first European leaders to reject this plan, arguing migrants would destroy European values and culture.