Close to sixty per cent of those eligible to vote took part in a local referendum on the construction of a planned refugee shelter in the ethnic Hungarian-populated village of Bős (Slovak: Gabčikovo) in southern Slovakia yesterday; despite an overwhelming 96.8 per cent of those casting their vote opposing the plan, the Slovak government will go ahead with the construction of the camp in the 5300-inhabitant village on the Hungarian border.
The interior ministers of Slovakia and Austria agreed in mid-June on the transportation of 500 migrants from the refugee camp in Traiskirchen, Austria, in several groups to disused university buildings located in the village, which has a 90 per cent ethnic Hungarian majority. The first refugees are expected to be housed in the buildings within days.
Following the announcement of the government’s plan, Bős mayor Iván Fenes wrote an open letter to the local electorate in which he distanced himself from the project based on past experiences and the current global situation, claiming that the municipality will attempt to prevent the establishment of the camp with “all methods at disposal”.
According to the Hungarian-language Slovakian website Körkép.sk, the opening of the refugee shelter at Bős will mean that four out of Slovakia’s six refugee centres will be located in ethnic Hungarian-populated areas.
8.5 per cent of the Slovakia’s population of 5.3 million are ethnic Hungarians, concentrated in the country’s southern areas.
via mandiner.hu and parameter.sk
photo: parameter.sk