An argument in favour of the quota referendum

An independent conservative analyst explains why, although he regards himself as a critic of the government, he will turn out and cast a no vote at the referendum on migration quotas scheduled for early October. He argues that our established humanistic consensus cannot hold in an era of mass immigration.

On Mandiner, Ákos Gergely Balogh calls the idea of the referendum against compulsory migrant resettlement quotas ugly, but ‘something that may work’. The massive flow of migrants desperately trying to reach Europe from the south and from the east, he writes, poses a grave moral dilemma to Europe. By duly accommodating them, Europe sends a message to further millions to come. If on the other hand it rejects them, it will act against the ‘commandment to act humanely.’ Our human rights paradigms stem from a period with incomparably lower volumes of immigration, he continues. Our earlier moral framework is no longer valid, if we bear our responsibility towards future generations in mind. The referendum is not an elegant idea, he concedes. It does not fit our established worldview, which was formed in the ‘happy years of peace’. But it may work and thus must be given a try, Balogh suggests.

Tags: migration, quotas, referendum