Abstract (may include machine translation)
Sending a message to Brussels was the main declared objective of Hungary's Fidesz government, which posed the following referendum question to voters on 2 October 2016: 'Do you want the European Union to be entitled to prescribe the mandatory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary without the consent of parliament?' Set against the background of the EU's refugee crisis reaching its peak in 2015, the answer, from virtually everyone who cast a valid ballot, was 'No'. However, turnout failed to reach the required 50% for a valid result. The 'quota referendum', as it is known, is to date the only EU-related vote in the Central and Eastern European Member States since they joined the EU in 2004, and a rare example of a referendum fought on a Eurosceptic platform by an internally united ruling party.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | The Palgrave Handbook of European Referendums |
Publisher | Springer International Publishing |
Pages | 649-669 |
Number of pages | 21 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9783030558031 |
ISBN (Print) | 9783030558024 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 3 Apr 2021 |