HUNGARY will hold a referendum on October 2nd. (Such things have become a fad in Europe.) The question is: “Do you want the European Union to be entitled to prescribe the mandatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary without the consent of parliament?” (Note the neutral wording.) The referendum was prompted by the EU’s Emergency Response Mechanism, adopted in September 2015, under which 160,000 of the migrants who began surging into Europe last year are to be shared out between member states according to quotas. The decision passed in the EU’s Council of Ministers by majority vote, but four countries voted against it: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary. Hungary and Slovakia have challenged the system in the European Court of Justice. It is “unlawful, unworkable and dangerous”, says Zoltan Kovacs, a government spokesman.
The referendum is largely a popularity ploy by Viktor Orban (pictured, right), Hungary’s populist prime minister, and will have no legal effect. It is also a challenge to the authority of Brussels and the leadership of Germany’s Angela Merkel, who champions the relocation scheme. Mrs Merkel…