He said that Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s prime minister, has “unfortunately decided to organise a referendum based on a suggestive and manipulative question” which is able to prevent all common EU solutions.

Verhofstadt admitted that the migrant crisis had indeed revealed the EU’s shortcomings and questioned the Schengen area, endangering the entire EU’s coherence but insisted that more efforts should be made to find a common solution and maintain European unity.

To attain this aim, the EU’s external borders should be protected and the international legal regulations observed “… which also means that every single member state should cooperate in giving shelter to the people who have passed the controls and are entitled to receive refugee status,” he said.

Orbán’s “no” means that he opts for surrounding Hungary with a fence and perhaps other EU member states may also lose their way and follow this method, Verhofstadt said.

However, it would be an illusion to think that borders can remain open within the EU if a common European system is not developed, he added.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.