A referendum on joining the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

was held in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

on 12 April 2003. Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p899 The proposal was approved by 83.8% of voters, with a voter turnout of 45.6%.Nohlen & Stöver, p912 Hungary subsequently joined the EU on 1 May 2004.

Background

Hungary submitted a membership application to the EU on 31 March 1994 and negotiations on entry began in 1998. At a

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in December 2002, Hungary was one of ten countries invited to join the EU in 2004. All major parties agreed that a binding referendum on membership was needed before Hungary could join the EU. The

National Assembly of Hungary The National Assembly ( hu, Országgyűlés, lit=Country Assembly) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to 4-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proporti ...

changed the rules on

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

s in Hungary in 1997; the previous requirement that turnout be over 50% was removed, replaced with the requirement that at least 25% of all registered voters had to vote in favor for a referendum to be legally valid. In December 2002 the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

of Hungary was amended to enable a referendum on EU membership to take place, with the agreement that the referendum would take place on 12 April 2003.

Referendum question

The question voted on in the referendum was: "Do you agree that the Republic of Hungary should become a member of the European Union?" *Hungarian: ''Egyetért-e azzal, hogy a Magyar Köztársaság az Európai Unió tagjává váljon?''

Party policies

Campaign

All of the major

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

in Hungary, the trade unions, business organisations, churches, and media supported membership of the EU. However the main opposition party

Fidesz Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Alliance (; hu, Fidesz – Magyar Polgári Szövetség) is a right-wing populist and national-conservative political party in Hungary, led by Viktor Orbán. It was formed in 1988 under the name of Alliance of Young ...

, while supporting membership, warned that up to 100,000 jobs could be lost due to

EU regulations A regulation is a legal act of the European Union that becomes immediately enforceable as law in all member states simultaneously. Regulations can be distinguished from directives which, at least in principle, need to be transposed into natio ...

and that foreign competition could cause some sectors of the

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

to collapse. Media coverage was overwhelmingly positive and a campaign was made to dispel popular misconceptions of EU membership. These included whether the eating of

poppy seed Poppy seed is an oilseed obtained from the opium poppy (''Papaver somniferum''). The tiny, kidney-shaped seeds have been harvested from dried seed pods by various civilizations for thousands of years. It is still widely used in many countries, ...

dumplings Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, ...

would be allowed in the EU and if only one size of

condom A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both male and female condoms. With proper use—and use at every act of in ...

was available in the EU. Each of the four main parties also ran their own campaigns in support of the referendum. The opposition camp was confined to some small groups which organised themselves into the "Movement for a Free Hungary". None of these groups were in the Hungarian parliament and thus were unable to get any state funding for their campaign. Most opponents stressed they were not against "

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

" but were objecting to the accession terms and the current form of the EU. However

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

s during the campaign showed strong support for membership. The Hungarian Worker's Party has also supported EU-accession stating that the benefits are larger than the disadvantages. Chairman Thurmer has stated that opposing the accession would be similar to the destruction of machines by an early faction of the worker's movement in the 19th century, see the article in Hungarian at https://magyarnarancs.hu/belpol/a_munkaspart_es_az_ep-valasztas_nemzetkozive_lett-61891.

Results

Reactions

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Péter Medgyessy Péter Medgyessy (; born 19 October 1942) is a retired Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 27 May 2002 to 29 September 2004. On 25 August 2004, he resigned over disputes with coalition partner Alliance of Free Democr ...

announced the result at a celebration on the banks of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

telling them, "Allow me to officially announce that the Hungarian republic will be a member of the European Union". The

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

welcomed the result as marking the end of Hungary's "tragic separation from the European family of democratic nations". There was concern however at the turnout which was significantly below the 70% that had been hoped for. There was criticism that the danger of the referendum being invalid due to low turnout was not stressed during the campaign. The opposition criticised the government's campaign as being simplistic while the government accused the opposition of being lukewarm in their support for membership. However the yes vote at 38% of voters was comfortably above the 25% level required for the referendum to be valid.

References

{{Hungarian elections 2003 referendums Referendums in Hungary Referendums related to European Union accession 2003 in Hungary 2003 in international relations 2003 in the European Union Hungary and the European Union