Prime minister Viktor Orban has warned Hungarians that failure to back his stance in Sunday's referendum on refugee policy could lead to mass immigration changing the country forever and increasing the threat of terrorism.
Mr Orban and his allies mounted a major late push to boost voter numbers, as surveys suggested that turnout might fall short of the 50 per cent required to make the referendum legally valid.
The pugnacious populist leader built fences on Hungary’s southern borders last autumn to block mostly Muslim refugees and migrants heading north, and he has been accused of fuelling fear and xenophobia in the run-up to the referendum.
His government has spent €16 million on a lurid campaign for people to vote No to giving the European Union the power to send refugees to Hungary without parliament's permission, as Mr Orban says would happen under a German-backed "quota" plan.
“We can’t afford to make a mistake on migration, because not only would our Hungary change but the Hungary of our children and grandchildren,” Mr Orban said in a television interview.
“We don’t want public safety to deteriorate, we don’t want a terror threat or to change our way of life, our family ties, the way we think about women, the press or religious ideals…it is we Hungarians who should decide with whom we want to live,” he added.
“On the issue of migration this is something that, if we make a mistake, then we’ll never be able to alter it…Those who don’t take part in Sunday’s referendum leave the decision to those who do.”
Hungary’s main opposition parties have failed to mount a significant challenge to Mr Orban’s No campaign, and the sharpest criticism has come from the country’s satirical Two-Tailed Dog party and domestic and international advocacy groups.
Regional support
Amnesty International this week denounced Mr Orban's "attempts to deliberately prevent refugees and migrants from reaching Hungary".
“Appalling treatment and labyrinthine asylum procedures are a cynical ploy to deter asylum-seekers from Hungary’s ever more militarised borders,” the human rights organisation said.
Several of Hungary’s central European neighbours now support its “security-led” approach to the refugee crisis and also oppose any quota system of relocation. “European leaders need to get organised, not ‘Orbanised’,” Amnesty insisted.
Nils Muznieks, the human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe, wrote this week that "Hungary's contemptuous populist approach to migration is tempting neighbouring countries to follow a similar path".
"If Hungary persists in its defiant policy that flouts human rights law, it will meet with further international criticism and possible legal sanctions," he said in an editorial for the New York Times, recalling how in 1956 some 200,000 Hungarians found refuge abroad after the Red Army crushed an anti-Soviet uprising.
In response, Hungary's foreign minister Peter Szijjarto urged people to use Sunday's vote to give "a resounding reply" to Mr Muznieks, whose "ignorance and hatred of Hungary is astonishing".
Asked if Mr Orban would resign if his referendum failed, the premier's chief-of-staff Janos Lazar replied: "Dream on."
