Budapest 8 Aug (ANA) - Voters in Hungary are set to overwhelmingly reject the imposition of Brussels migrant quotas in a crushing blow to the entire EU project. The latest polls show that people in the central European country will turn out in large numbers and vote to block the planned influx of new asylum seekers.  Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has been a vocal critic of the EU’s migration policies and has openly encouraged voters to reject the diktat from Brussels.  The polling will spark panic in the corridors of power at Jean-Claude Juncker’s EU Commission, which has been left reeling from a series of public backlashes against its authoritarian policies. According to data compiled by the Hungarian news site Index turnout for the referendum, set to take place in October, will comfortably surpass the 50 per cent required to make it valid under the country’s laws. In total 54 per cent of eligible voters backing the country’s five main parties have said that they will head to the ballot box for the vote. Of those 33.6 per cent across the political divide have indicated they will say no to Brussels quotas, compared to just 4.8 per cent who indent to vote to accept them. However, when weighting is given to the relative popularity of the individual parties, pollsters believe that an astonishing 90 per cent of Hungarians will reject the EU proposal.  Such a result would put Hungary at loggerheads with the EU Commission once again over migration, which is becoming an increasingly fractious topic across Europe. A number of central European countries including Hungary, Austria, Croatia and Slovakia have expressed open outrage at the plan for migrant quotas, and some member states are even launching a legal challenge to the scheme.  Brussels has hit back, threatening to fine Hungary £211,000 for every asylum seeker it refuses to take in a move which has further inflamed deep euroscepticism in the country. Although the upcoming referendum does not have any legal force, the Hungarian government hopes it will send a strong signal to Brussels over the deep opposition to mass migration in the country. A separate survey carried out this week showed that two-thirds of Hungarians say they are either “scared” or “very scared” by the impact the migrant crisis is having on their communities.(ANA) 

FA/ANA/8 August 2016--------