Hungary set to reject EU's proposals to resettle refugees

Government billboards ask voters: 'Did you know that the Paris terror attacks were carried out by immigrants?'

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been at odds with his German counterpart Angela Merkel (Getty Images)

Hungarians are set to reject the European Union’s proposal to resettle asylum-seekers in a referendum this weekend.

The country is expected to vote to ignore EU quotas after months of divisive campaigning.

Right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who leads the anti-EU campaign, has posed the question: “Do you want the European Union to be able to mandate the obligatory resettlement of non-Hungarian citizens into Hungary even without the approval of the [Hungarian parliament]?”

Newsweek reported the Hungarian Government had used billboards to ask people: “Did you know that nearly one million immigrants want to come to Europe from Libya alone?” and “did you know that the Paris terror attacks were carried out by immigrants?”

Although the referendum has no legal implication and cannot reverse the EU’s proposal, Mr Orban is likely to use the result to justify any future anti-immigration and anti-EU policies.

Mr Orban had previously called migrants entering Europe a “poison” that his country “won’t swallow” and responded to the Paris attacks by saying "all the terrorists are basically migrants".

If Hungarians vote to reject the proposals, it will be the third time this year a member state has voted against the EU. Holland rejected an EU trade deal with Ukraine in April, followed by Britain voting to leave the trade bloc in June.