THE VOTE in Hungary is part of larger revolt against EU bureaucrats and the status quo in Brussels.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán casts his vote in the referendum on migrant quotas
The people of Hungary have given the EU a bloody nose after 98% of voters rejected mandatory EU migrant quotas in a historic referendum.
Even though the turnout was too low to make the vote valid, the ruling right-wing party Fidesz still heralded the "no" vote as a victory.
But yesterday’s referendum was just one battle in a larger war that is being waged within the EU.
Hungary’s firebrand Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hopes to weaponise this "no" referendum result to challenge Eurocrats in Brussels.
“The referendum will decide how strong a sword we can forge in the fight against the Brussels bureaucrats,” Mr Orbán told Hungarian news site Origo.hu.
The Hungarian Government cracked down immigration and built razor wire border fences to keep out refugees during the migrant crisis.
But Hungary tends to be a transit country that refugees pass through, rather than stay in, as they try to reach more popular destinations such as Germany.
In any case, Hungary’s EU migrant quota of 1,294 refugees is unlikely to be enforced as the EU struggles to show unity following the Brexit vote.
Eastern Europe's former communist states – Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland – have vehemently opposed the policy created last year.
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has declared: "Quotas today clearly divide the EU, therefore I think they are politically finished.”
Instead of just a fight about quotas, the Hungarian referendum signals a wider challenge to the very nature of democracy in the EU.
Gerald Knaus, director of think tank European Stability Initiative, argues Mr Orbán is “not worried that any refugees will end up in Hungary” despite his anti-immigration rhetoric.
“The refugee issue for Orbán is really just a means to an end – and that end is a cultural counter-revolution in Europe and an end to liberal Europe,” he told the Guardian.
Mr Orbán has emerged as a high-profile leader of the Visegrád Four – Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia – who are taking an increasingly vocal stand.
Earlier this month Mr Orbán and Jaroslaw Kaczynski – the powerful head of Poland’s ruling party – pledged to wage a “cultural counter-revolution” to reform the EU.
“Brexit is a fantastic opportunity for us. We are at a historic cultural moment,” Mr Orbán said during a debate alongside Kaczynski at a conference in Poland last month.
“There is a possibility of a cultural counter-revolution right now.”
The ultra-conservative politicians are challenging the liberal foundations of the EU and want more power to be returned to national Governments.
Mr Kaczynski said: “For this counter-revolution to be conclusive, there must be some changes in the EU itself, its structure, its decision-making process.”
The outspoken leaders have also blasted German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her open-door immigration policy to deal with the migrant crisis.
Through the scuffle over the migrant crisis, the politicians are revolting against EU institutions and central European powers such as Germany and France.
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http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/716831/Hungary-referendum-2016-could-vote-signal-end-EU-Brussels-European-Union-Viktor-Orban
