A vote to ban the European Union from resettling refugees in Hungary failed to gain enough votes for passage even though nearly all of the lawmakers supported the ban.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban called for the vote to stop the EU from forcibly relocating 1,294 to Hungary as part of a policy drive against the EU and immigration, the BBC reported. But the Jobbik party refused to vote for the bill even though they too are against the immigration plans.
The Jobbiks withheld their support from Orban because they oppose his cash-for-residency scheme that has allowed foreigners to buy state bonds worth $330,000 which give them the right to locate to Hungary. They demanded that Orban give up his scheme, but he refused, so they in effect blocked the vote on his bill, which needed two votes from outside his Fidesz party to pass.
According to The New York Times, the parliamentary vote required a supermajority to pass. The 131 "Yea"s were two short of the two-thirds needed from the 199-member parliament. Only three members voted "Nay," but the vast remainder of the legislative body abstained.
Orban is expected to call the Jobbiks “traitors” for their lack of support, but they proactively unfurled a banner as the vote was read that says, “The traitor is the one who allows terrorists into the country for money.” The banner refers to a Saudi citizen with former ties to Osama Bin Laden and who is also on an FBI wanted list who relocated to Hungary by buying bonds.
Hungary has refused a European Commission request to let 1,294 refugees into their country and will find out next year whether the European Court of Justice will uphold their decision. A constitutional amendment would stop the EC from forcing them to accept the refugees.
Orban’s Fidesz party gained a two-thirds majority when he came to power in 2010, and they have since enacted six constitutional amendments together.
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