Hungary to call referendum on dual citizenship

Hungary plans to hold a referendum on a
controversial proposal that seeks to grant dual citizenship to
ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring
countries.

Hungary’s Constitutional Court gave the green
light on 26 October to a referendum on whether Budapest
should offer dual citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living
outside the country. Acting on a motion by the World
Federation of Hungarians (MVSZ), Hungary’s parliament
voted to hold a referendum on the issue in September.
However, the decision was subsequently challenged in the
court by various players across the domestic political
spectrum.

Under the Constitutional Court’s ruling, Hungary
may now couple this referendum to another one, on whether
the government should halt the privatisation of the
country’s hospitals and health-care institutions. The
latter referendum has already been called for 5 December.
President Ferenc Mádl now has until 20 November to
decide whether to hold both referenda on the same
date. 

The issue of granting dual citizenship to Hungarians
living outside the country’s borders has stirred
strong divisions. There are some two million Hungarians
living in neighbouring Romania, and a further 500,000 are
in Slovakia and some 300,000 in Serbia. Nationalists in
the neighbouring countries have described the initiative
as a provocation.

The ruling Socialists (MSZP) believe that the issue of
dual citizenship should not be decided in a referendum,
and are thus opposed to the motion. The junior coalition
member liberal Free Democrats (SZDSZ) reject the
proposal. The opposition Young Democrats (FIDESZ) and the
Democratic Forum (MDF) have expressed support for the
initiative.

For the referendum to be successful, it would require
legislative changes based on two-thirds majority support.
This appears highly unlikely to happen. The referendum
result would be binding, but there is no legally
prescribed deadline by which time parliament has to
act.

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