Hungary’s parliament blocks ban on refugee resettlement

Hungary's parliament has narrowly rejected a bid by prime minister Viktor Orban to change the country's constitution to prevent refugees being resettled there.

Mr Orban's Fidesz party and its allies fell two votes short of the required two-thirds majority in parliament, dealing another blow to the pugnacious premier just a month after low turnout rendered invalid his referendum on the refugee issue.

The vote hinged on the far-right Jobbik party, which made good on a threat not to back Mr Orban's bill unless he scrapped a "residency bond" scheme through which wealthy foreigners can buy the right to live in Hungary.

In a heated parliamentary session, senior Fidesz member Lajos Kosa lambasted Jobbik: "Tying support for the constitutional amendment to other conditions is tantamount to treason," he said.

In response, Jobbik deputies unfurled a banner that read: “Traitors are those who also let in terrorists for money.” Beside the slogan, the Fidesz party logo was written in Arabic-style script and included a dollar sign.

"Neither rich migrants nor poor migrants, neither rich terrorists nor poor terrorists can come to Hungary," said Gabor Vona, the leader of Jobbik, which is vying with the Socialists to be Hungary's main opposition party.

After the vote, Mr Vona said that when “the government scraps the bond programme, Jobbik is ready to back the amendment of the constitution within 24 hours”.

The residency scheme allows foreigners and their families to live in Hungary in return for the purchase of a €300,000 government bond, but anti-corruption advocates say the programme is not transparent and potentially riddled with graft.

Border fence

Thousands of people – predominantly from China, Russia and the Middle East – have bought the bonds, even as Mr Orban has rejected an EU refugee resettlement plan and called mostly Muslim migrants "poison" for Hungary and the EU. Last year, Hungary fenced off its southern borders to keep out refugees and migrants.

Mr Vona told parliament that “the current threat to Hungary’s security doesn’t come from EU settlement quotas, but rather from immigration made possibly by these residency bonds”.

Mr Kosa insisted the scheme involved strict vetting of all applicants, and that it was “pure idiocy to think that terrorists would come to Hungary via residency bonds”.

“It is much more dangerous to simply take a walk down the street. In fact, there is a greater chance of a shark attack than for terrorists to come via residency bonds,” he claimed.

Mr Orban, who has suffered few major parliamentary defeats in recent years, said the Fidesz board would decide whether to resubmit the bill.

In last month’s referendum, more than 98 percent of people who voted backed Mr Orban’s opposition to any EU plan to resettle refugees in Hungary.

Only about 40 percent of eligible Hungarians voted, however, rendering the result invalid.

Andrew Stroehlein, European media director of Human Rights Watch, wrote on Twitter: "First Orban fails to convince voters with his anti-refugee referendum. Now he's failed in parliament too. Time to give up on hate, Viktor."