Refugee crisis: Hungary to hold referendum on migration quotas

Prime Minister Viktor Orban announces vote challenging EU decision to relocate 160,000 refugees across Europe

Refugees at Hungary's border with Serbia (Getty Images)

The EU’s faltering response to the refugee crisis has ben dealt a fresh blow after the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, announced a referendum on the plan for mandatory migration quotas.

In an echo of Britain’s Out campaign, Mr Orban said a No vote would be “in favour of Hungary’s independence”.

The referendum will challenge last September’s binding decision by the EU to relocate 160,000 Syrian refugees across Europe, which was carried despite fierce opposition from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.

However, just 598 refugees have so far been relocated across the EU, a mere 0.4 per cent of the target. Hungary has taken none of its 1,294 quota.

Meanwhile, foreign and interior ministers of Austria and nine Balkan countries met in Vienna to discuss the crisis.

Last week Austria set an 80-a-day ceiling on asylum applications, a measure said by the European Commission to be illegal. Its Interior Minister, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, said that cutting the flow of migrants was a “question of survival” for the EU.