The European Union is considering slapping Hungary with heavy fines if its population votes to reject mandatory migrant resettlement.  Hungary’s Supreme Court cleared the way for the vote, with the result being binding if and only if half the population turns out to vote.  The referendum will be on a single question:  “Do you want the European Union to prescribe the mandatory settlement of non-Hungarian citizens in Hungary even without the consent of parliament?”

Even asking the question offends Brussels, which is proposing fines of up to 250,000 euros per each migrant that a country refuses to accept.  Hungarians nevertheless seem poised to vote to retain their independence on the question in groundswell numbers.  The vote is expected to be held this year.

Orban has been an outspoken advocate for Hungary as a traditional nation-state, which exists to serve as a home for a particular people with a particular language and culture.  At times this love of Hungarians has drifted into a disdain of those who are not fully Hungarian.  Orban stands accused of white-washing of anti-Semitic language by members of his party.  Orban eventually came around to opposing statues of a Hungarian leader who worked with the Nazis during the Second World War, though he was slow to do it.  The Anti-Defamation League says that they do not believe he is personally anti-Semitic, but that he is too willing to make common cause with those who are.

It is tempting to see in the rejection of mass migration a similar shading of a healthy love of home into a distrust of strangers.  However, a referendum can only pass if there is widespread public support for it.  Recent evidence shows that Westerners are by and large not motivated by anti-Islamic feelings.  Even in the wake of the Paris attacks, most social media activity was aimed at defending Muslims from accusations of corporate guilt.  The strength of the Hungarian movement to reassert its independence from Brussels comes in the context of many other movements across Europe to reassert some local control, including especially the upcoming British vote on whether or not to leave the EU entirely.

The Hungarian people have a right to a home for themselves and their culture.  If they feel that the EU is endangering that basic function of their nation-state, of course they have every right to reassert their interests against a distant bureaucracy.  It is right that they should consider how to balance the challenge posed by the refugee crisis with their own interests as a people.  Once they have regained control of their fate, they can consider what their duty is to those fleeing war in Syria, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.  It is not for others to impose such a duty upon them without their consent.