A picture of Hungary migration context after the referendum failure
A picture of Hungary migration context after the referendum failure
by Livia Ortensi. Fact sheet, October 2016
The present paper is published in the framework of Fondazione ISMU’s strategic line of research Immigration and the future of Europe
On October 2016 a referendum initiated by the government and related to the European Union’s mandatory quotas for relocating migrants was held in Hungary. The kvótanépszavazás or kvótareferendum (quota referendum) was only a partial victory for Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. In fact those who participated to the referendum overwhelmingly voted “no” in order to reject the relocation of new asylum seekers, but the number of voters was not enough for the result to be considered valid. The vote was anticipated by a very harsh propaganda against asylum seekers and foreigners that portrayed migrants as a danger to Hungarian society. The campaign promoted many deceptive messages accusing for example migrants and asylum seekers of diffused sexual harassment crimes in Europe and even for the Paris terrorist attacks.