Image copyright AFP Image caption Mr Orban (R, with Deputy PM Zsolt Semjen) suffered an unusual defeat when his constitutional amendment failed to pass

Hungary's parliament has rejected an attempt by Prime Minister Viktor Orban to block the settlement of refugees.

His ruling Fidesz party failed to attract the two opposition votes necessary for a two-thirds majority in parliament.

The bill had sought to rebuff an EU-set quota scheme that would relocate 1,294 refugees in Hungary.

It was the latest move in Mr Orban's anti-EU and anti-migrant drive, say correspondents.

But he was thwarted by the anti-immigration Jobbik party, which normally would have been viewed as a natural supporter of the bill but abstained.

Jobbik had demanded Mr Orban scrap a cash-for-residency bond scheme allowing wealthy foreigners to buy special state bonds for €300,000 ($330,000) giving them the right to live in Hungary.

Jobbik argued the immigration ban should apply to all foreigners.

Mr Orban refused, calling the move "blackmail".

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Hungary sealed its borders with Serbia and Croatia after it became a transit country last year

Mr Orban called the vote in parliament after a divisive referendum on 2 October, again over the EU's 2015 resettlement scheme to relocate 160,000 refugees across the bloc.

Of those who voted, 98% - or 3.3m voters - supported Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban's call to block the quotas. But only 40.4% of voters cast valid ballots, short of the required 50% threshold.

Nevertheless, he declared victory and immediately called the constitutional vote.

Another blow for Orban - Nick Thorpe, BBC News, Budapest

This is the second blow in a month for Viktor Orban, following the failure of his 2 October referendum.

Now he can be expected to turn his guns on the Jobbik party for their "treachery" for refusing to support the constitutional amendment.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Members of Jobbik - the radical-right challengers to Mr Orban's Fidesz party - held aloft a banner during the vote, reading: "The traitor is the one who allows terrorists into the country for money"

Jobbik were prepared in advance for that accusation.

As the results of the amendment vote were announced, Jobbik deputies unrolled a banner with the words: "The traitor is the one who allows terrorists into the country for money." According to Hungarian reports, a Saudi citizen who once had business contacts with Osama Bin Laden and who is also on an FBI wanted list, bought residency in Hungary under the bond scheme.

Hungary has already refused to accept 1,294 asylum seekers requested by the European Commission. It has taken the Commission to the European Court of Justice over the case, with a verdict expected next year.

If Hungary loses, it will have no choice but to accept the 1,294. If the constitutional amendment had passed now, it would have blocked any future attempts by the EU to impose quotas on Hungary.

Jobbik has been jockeying with the Socialists for position as Hungary's second biggest party.

Mr Orban's defeat in Tuesday's vote is an unusual blow for a man whose party won a two-thirds majority in parliament when he first came to power in 2010 and has since enacted six constitutional amendments.

The setback is likely to herald a period of increasing rivalry between his Fidesz party and Jobbik.

Image copyright AFP Image caption A referendum on blocking the EU quota took place on 2 October - but turnout failed to meet the required level

Immigration is a key battleground, and the constitutional vote was a chance for Jobbik to flex its muscles, correspondents say.

"We are ready to vote for the amendment of the constitution but we are not ready for partial solutions," Jobbik leader Gabor Vona said in October. "We can only support a solution which creates Hungary's real security."

Thousands of non-EU citizens - many from the Middle East, China and the former Soviet Union - have bought residency in Hungary with the "foreigner bonds".

Jobbik says more people have come into the country under that scheme than would have come under the EU migrant quota.

But it says it remains willing to support Fidesz's constitutional amendment if it backs down and scraps the scheme.</s>Orban and his ruling Fidesz party had introduced the anti-migrant bill in response to the European Union resettlement plan and a specific EU quota to allow a reported 1,294 refugees to relocate to Hungary.

But radical right-wing Jobbik party politicians boycotted the vote Tuesday, leaving the proposed constitutional amendment short of the required two-thirds majority, Balint Gyorgy, deputy head of the parliament press office, told CNN.

Marton Gyongyosi, a Jobbik member of parliament, told CNN that his party -- which would normally have voted to back the amendment -- abstained from the vote because of a 2012 government initiative that essentially equates to a cash-for-residency scheme.

Jobbik firmly opposes these so-called "government bonds," which party members say are sold to foreigners who can prove they have €300,000 (just over $331,000) or more. These foreigners are then given residency in Hungary.

Gyongyosi said that so far, more than 7,000 such bonds had been sold. "We have said that of course we are against the resettlements to Hungary by Brussels and we are against migration quotas, but we are equally against migrants to Hungary who perhaps have €300,000 to spend," Gyongyosi said. "If you want to say 'No' to poor ones, you have to say 'No' to rich migrants. "The reason why we did not press the 'no' button is only up to the fact that the government has created the loophole through which it can sell out residency through money," he added. The result of Tuesday's vote will be a blow for the Fidesz party and Orban, who has vowed to defend Hungary from forced migration policies from the European Union. "The vote today demonstrated that for all opposition parties, especially for Jobbik, the issue of national sovereignty and the struggle against compulsory quota proposed by the European Commission comes only after their party-political considerations," said Zoltan Kovacs, spokesman for the Hungarian government, in an email to CNN. "For us, retaining elements of national sovereignty that have never been handed over to any European institution is and should be a national cause, a 'national minimum' if you like, that cannot be sacrificed for any political consideration." Hungary wants its people to hate refugees He added that Fidesz will make a decision on further steps later Tuesday, including the possibility of resubmitting the constitutional amendment again in the future. In October, Hungarians voted on the issue of EU quotas in a referendum, overwhelmingly rejecting them. But low voter turnout (43.7%) meant the result was not legally binding. "Can a democratic community [the EU] force its will to a member where 92% [of the voters] is against it? I promise, I will do everything so this can never ever happen," Orban said last month.</s>Hungary’s parliament has narrowly rejected a bid by prime minister Viktor Orban to change the country’s constitution to prevent refugees being resettled there.

Mr Orban’s Fidesz party and its allies fell two votes short of the required two-thirds majority in parliament, dealing another blow to the pugnacious premier just a month after low turnout rendered invalid his referendum on the refugee issue.

The vote hinged on the far-right Jobbik party, which made good on a threat not to back Mr Orban’s bill unless he scrapped a “residency bond” scheme through which wealthy foreigners can buy the right to live in Hungary.

In a heated parliamentary session, senior Fidesz member Lajos Kosa lambasted Jobbik: “Tying support for the constitutional amendment to other conditions is tantamount to treason,” he said.

In response, Jobbik deputies unfurled a banner that read: “Traitors are those who also let in terrorists for money.” Beside the slogan, the Fidesz party logo was written in Arabic-style script and included a dollar sign.

“Neither rich migrants nor poor migrants, neither rich terrorists nor poor terrorists can come to Hungary,” said Gabor Vona, the leader of Jobbik, which is vying with the Socialists to be Hungary’s main opposition party.

After the vote, Mr Vona said that when “the government scraps the bond programme, Jobbik is ready to back the amendment of the constitution within 24 hours”.

The residency scheme allows foreigners and their families to live in Hungary in return for the purchase of a €300,000 government bond, but anti-corruption advocates say the programme is not transparent and potentially riddled with graft.

Thousands of people – predominantly from China, Russia and the Middle East – have bought the bonds, even as Mr Orban has rejected an EU refugee resettlement plan and called mostly Muslim migrants “poison” for Hungary and the EU. Last year, Hungary fenced off its southern borders to keep out refugees and migrants.

Mr Vona told parliament that “the current threat to Hungary’s security doesn’t come from EU settlement quotas, but rather from immigration made possibly by these residency bonds”.

Mr Kosa insisted the scheme involved strict vetting of all applicants, and that it was “pure idiocy to think that terrorists would come to Hungary via residency bonds”.

“It is much more dangerous to simply take a walk down the street. In fact, there is a greater chance of a shark attack than for terrorists to come via residency bonds,” he claimed.

Mr Orban, who has suffered few major parliamentary defeats in recent years, said the Fidesz board would decide whether to resubmit the bill.

In last month’s referendum, more than 98 percent of people who voted backed Mr Orban’s opposition to any EU plan to resettle refugees in Hungary.

Only about 40 percent of eligible Hungarians voted, however, rendering the result invalid.

Andrew Stroehlein, European media director of Human Rights Watch, wrote on Twitter: “First Orban fails to convince voters with his anti-refugee referendum. Now he’s failed in parliament too. Time to give up on hate, Viktor.”</s>BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s prime minister failed Tuesday in his attempt to push through constitutional amendments opposing any future plan by the European Union to resettle asylum-seekers among members of the bloc.

Lawmakers voted 131-3 in favor of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s proposal, but the governing Fidesz party failed to secure any opposition support and fell two votes short of the two-thirds majority of all 199 deputies necessary. All opposition lawmakers either voted against the proposal or abstained.

The failure to pass the five amendments, including one stating that a “foreign population cannot be settled into Hungary,” was Orban’s second major setback after an Oct. 2 referendum — in which more than 98 percent of voters supported the government’s anti-migrant position — was declared invalid because of low voter turnout.

Foreign Minister Peter Sziijarto said the EU mandatory quota scheme to resettle asylum-seekers, which has yet to be approved, “is a bad answer to the migrant crisis … and will practically lead to Europe’s ruin.”

“Today it became clear that in terms of protecting the country, the Hungarian people can only count on the government,” Szijjarto said. “Defending the country’s security and lowering the risk of terrorism are national issues … but we can’t count on the opposition parties.”

Political analyst Zoltan Cegledi said the rejection of the amendments was a “defeat of power politics” in which Orban and Fidesz were emphasizing their ability to get things done no matter what.

“The defeat puts Orban in a very difficult communications position in which he has to explain why he isn’t capable of achieving anything,” Cegledi said.

Orban’s “zero migrants” policies led Hungary to build fences last year on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia to stop the migrant flow and also resulted in draconian rules which, according to human rights groups, have practically destroyed Hungary’s asylum system. Last year, before the fences were fully in place by mid-October, nearly 400,000 migrants and refugees passed through Hungary on their way to Germany and elsewhere in Western Europe.

Orban presented the constitutional amendments as necessary to keep out large numbers of mostly Muslim asylum seekers in order to protect Hungarian independence, identity and culture.

Orban said the amendments were meant to show “that, without our consent and approval, no one can decide who we want to live with and how.”

Earlier this year, the far-right Jobbik party had proposed amendments similar to Orban’s. Fidesz rejected the idea, banking instead on the expected success of the referendum.

This time, Jobbik made its support conditional on eliminating “residency bonds” which give foreigners and their immediate families Hungarian papers in exchange for buying a five-year government bond worth 300,000 euros ($331,000). By the end of August, more than 7,500 people, including 6,405 from China and 497 from Russia, had gained residence in Hungary under the program.

Jobbik chairman Gabor Vona said the bonds, which Transparency International Hungary flagged as “the footprint of high-level corruption in the country,” were the “dirty business” of Fidesz.

“For Fidesz, dirty money is more important than the true security of the country,” Vona told reporters after the vote. “The very moment the government eliminates the bonds, Jobbik is willing to vote for the constitutional amendment even within 24 hours.”

Fidesz has said it will likely eliminate the residency bonds but rejected Jobbik’s “blackmail.”

“Tying support for the constitutional amendment to other conditions is tantamount to treason,” said Lajos Kosa, head of the Fidesz faction in parliament. In response, Jobbik lawmakers held up a huge banner after the vote saying “Traitors are those who, for money, also let in terrorists.”

Analysts expect Fidesz to keep anti-migration high on the agenda in the run-up to elections expected in April 2018.

“In xenophobia, Fidesz has found a far-right theme it can use and it works too well for it to be cast aside,” Cegledi said.</s>Sixty years ago a refugee crisis in Hungary made the headlines. Historian Simon Hall looks at how people in Yorkshire opened their homes to those fleeing the Soviet invasion.

Leeds has a proud history of welcoming immigrants. This was never more true than 60 years ago, when the people of Leeds – and elsewhere in Yorkshire – opened their homes to thousands of Hungarians fleeing the Soviet invasion of their homeland.

On November 4, 1956, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered 60,000 troops along with thousands of tanks into Hungary in a decisive bid to crush a popular uprising against Communist rule.

In the weeks that followed, tens of thousands of Hungarians poured over the border into Austria, triggering a major humanitarian crisis – and a major outpouring of sympathy.

The following week more than 200 people gathered on the steps of Leeds University Students’ Union for a protest organized by the Union Catholic Society. Earlier, a couple of students had braved a 70-foot drop to paint “Hungary Help” in three-feet high letters on the front of the Parkinson Building. Standing behind a large banner that proclaimed, “We Mourn Hungary”, and carrying a large Union Jack and Hungarian flag, the protesters set off towards the city centre. The march was swelled by hundreds of shoppers and office workers and officials, armed with collection buckets, to which people gave generously and freely; one construction worker was so keen to contribute he threw down some money from his scaffolding.

The people of Leeds went on to raise £15,500 (around £250,000 in today’s money) for the Hungarian refugee relief fund. They weren’t alone. In Halifax, £2,402 7s 11d was collected, and the total in Bradford by early December was £11,140 – which included £100 from collection boxes that had been placed next to the tills at Busby’s department store.

Norman Alexander, a retired poultry farmer in Knaresborough, even offered a plot of land to build a house for a refugee family. Then in December a coach, donated by Wallace Arnold, set off from Leeds bound for Austria.

Following a public appeal led by Lady Morris, chairwoman of the Leeds and District Council of the United Nations Association, two tons of canned food, toiletries, clothing and blankets had been collected. One woman arrived at the office to donate £30-worth of bedding, explaining that she had recently inherited some money, and wanted to do “all she could to help the Hungarians who had lost their homes.” In addition, a group of Leeds women had raised £300 to buy Christmas presents, including children’s toys, for the refugees.

The coach returned two weeks later with 33 Hungarian refugees on board, including two doctors, two lawyers, a professor of mathematics and a film producer, as well as farmers, labourers, a tailor, and several children. The Yorkshire Post reported that some local families “in cosy drawing rooms for a quiet, homely evening.”

Dozens more refugees followed in the coming weeks and by early April the following year around 400 were housed in hostels across Yorkshire, with 2,000 Hungarians settling in Bradford.

The artist György Gordon, whose work is celebrated in a new exhibition at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, housed at Leeds University, settled in Wakefield, having fled his native Hungary carrying little more than his painting equipment and his six-year-old daughter, Anna.

Hungarian students were among the arrivals and many years later one of the students recalled that it was “impossible to forget” the sympathy, help and kindness that had been shown to them, in their hour of greatest need.

Amidst the continuing refugee crisis in Syria, and talk of clamping down on immigration at home, we could do worse than seek to emulate the spirit of generosity that was shown 60 years ago.

Simon Hall is author of 1956 - The Year of Revolt and Professor of Modern History at the University of Leeds.</s>Hungary's prime minister failed Tuesday in his attempt to push through constitutional amendments opposing any future plan by the European Union to resettle asylum seekers among members of the bloc.

Lawmakers voted 131-3 in favor of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's proposal, but the governing Fidesz party failed to secure any opposition support and fell two votes short of the two-thirds majority of all 199 deputies necessary.

The failure to pass the five amendments, including one stating that a "foreign population cannot be settled into Hungary," was Orban's second major setback after an Oct. 2 referendum — in which over 98 percent of voters supported the government's anti-migrant position — was declared invalid due to low voter turnout.

Political analyst Zoltan Cegledi said the rejection of the amendments was a "defeat of power politics" in which Orban and Fidesz were emphasizing their ability to get things done no matter what.

"The defeat puts Orban in a very difficult communications position in which he has to explain why he isn't capable of achieving anything," Cegledi said.

Orban's "zero migrants" policies led Hungary to build fences last year on its southern borders with Serbia and Croatia to stop the migrant flow and also resulted in draconian rules which, according to human rights groups, have practically destroyed Hungary's asylum system. Last year, before the fences were fully in place by mid-October, nearly 400,000 migrants and refugees passed through Hungary on their way to Germany and elsewhere in Western Europe.

Orban presented the constitutional amendments as necessary to keep out large numbers of mostly Muslim asylum seekers in order to protect Hungarian independence, identity and culture.

Orban said the amendments were meant to show "that, without our consent and approval, no one can decide who we want to live with and how."

Earlier this year, the far-right Jobbik party had proposed amendments similar to Orban's. Fidesz rejected the idea, banking instead on the expected success of the referendum.

This time, Jobbik made its support conditional on eliminating "residency bonds" which give foreigners and their immediate families Hungarian papers in exchange for buying a five-year government bond worth 300,000 euros ($331,000). Jobbik chairman Gabor Vona said the bonds, which Transparency International Hungary flagged as "the footprint of high-level corruption in the country," were the "dirty business" of Fidesz.

"Neither rich migrants nor poor migrants, neither rich terrorists nor poor terrorists can come to Hungary," Vona said in parliament on Monday.

Fidesz has said it will likely eliminate the residency bonds but rejected Jobbik's "blackmail."

"Tying support for the constitutional amendment to other conditions is tantamount to treason," said Lajos Kosa, head of the Fidesz faction in parliament. In response, Jobbik lawmakers held up a huge banner after the vote saying "Traitors are those who, for money, also let in terrorists."

Analysts expect Fidesz to keep anti-migration high on the agenda in the run-up to elections expected in April 2018.

"In xenophobia, Fidesz has found a far-right theme it can use and it works too well for it to be cast aside," Cegledi said.
The National Assembly rejects Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's bill to block the settlement of refugees in Hungary. The far-right Jobbik party abstained from the vote, arguing the immigration ban should apply to all foreigners, and not just refugees.