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2017 Hungarian Y.B. Int'l L. & Eur. L. 61 (2017)
The EU Migrant Quota Referendum in Hungary - The Legal Aspects of a Primarily Political Device

handle is hein.journals/huyiel2017 and id is 73 raw text is: 






4         THE EU MIGRANT QUOTA REFERENDUM IN

          HUNGARY


The Legal Aspects of a Primarily Political Device

Ldszl6 Komdromi*

Le  President de la Rdpublique est responsable devant le Peuplefrangais, auquel il a tou-
                                                        jours le droit defaire appel.
                                             Constitution du 14 Janvier 1852, Art. 5.1


4.1    INTRODUCTION

On  2 October 2016 Hungarian  voters cast their votes to decide the following question:
Do you  want the European Union  to be able to prescribe the compulsory settlement of
non-Hungarian  citizens in Hungary even without the approval of the Parliament? The
referendum  was invalid, because the required turnout quorum, the valid votes of more
than 50%  of the total electorate, was not reached. Nevertheless, the referendum was one
of the most important political events of 2016 in Hungary and the problem of migration
dominated  the Hungarian political agenda also in the first half of 2017.
   The following paper opens with a summary of the historic and political background of
the referendum, touching upon the measures of the EU and the Hungarian Government.
This is followed by an analysis of the Curia's (Supreme Court of Hungary) decision,2
which  gave the green light to the referendum. The most important conclusion is that
the legal conditions for national referendums in Hungary (in particular, that the subject
matter of the referendum lie within the competence of the Parliament and that the ques-
tion be unambiguous)  cannot be interpreted outside the EU law context. The refusal of
the Curia to directly apply and interpret EU law in connection with referendum initia-
tives is, therefore, untenable. It is also worth reconsidering the long-held view that Article
8(3) (d) of the Fundamental Law, which bans referendums that would affect obligations
arising from international treaties, is inapplicable to referendums in contravention of EU
law.


*  Associate Professor at Pizminy Pter Catholic University, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences,
   komaromi.laszlo@jakppke.hu.
1  L. Duguit & H. Monnier & IK Bonnard (Eds.), Les constitutions et les principales lois politiques de la France
   depuis 1789, 7th edn (par G. Berlia), Librairie g6nbrale de droit et de jurisprudence, Paris, 1952, p. 250.
2  Decision Knk.IV.37.222/2016/9. of the Curia.


61

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