Members from across the European Parliament’s political spectrum on Wednesday condemned Hungary’s likely ban of an upcoming Pride event in Budapest and called on the EU executive branch to intervene.
In March, the Hungarian Parliament passed a bill allowing the prohibition of public LGBTQ+ events on “child protection” grounds, and empowering police to use facial recognition technology to identify attendees.
Weeks before far-right nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban had warned Budapest Pride organisers “should not even bother” to organize a 2025 event.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, a liberal political opponent of Orban, has pushed back by trying to hold a Pride celebration on June 28 that skirts the law by being a municipal event. On Wednesday, Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, said police would decide on the matter despite Karacsony’s attempts to sidestep official review, Reuters news agency reported.
MEPs to head to Budapest
A cross-party delegation of members of the European Parliament made clear it intends to travel to the Hungarian capital in a show of solidarity later this month. Exactly who will go is not yet clear.
During an EU parliamentary debate in the French city of Strasbourg on Wednesday, center-left Spanish lawmaker Iratxe Garcia Perez told Hungary’s queer community they were “not alone.”
“We see you. We hear you, and the 28th of June, we will march with you in Budapest, side by side. Proud and loud,” Garcia, president of the Socialists and Democrats group, said.
Lawmakers from the center-right European People’s Party also criticized the latest developments in Hungary.
“The people of Hungary have the right to live free in a democracy that upholds rule of law respects their dignity and protects fundamental freedoms of all citizens,” Swedish Christian Democrat member Tomas Tobe said. “Opposition is rising in Hungary and Orban is clearly afraid.”
What could EU officials do?
The potential Pride ban is based on a Hungarian law from 2021 that restricts public displays or dissemination of so-called “LGBTI content” allegedly to protect the safety of children. The bill outraged much of the EU and was slammed by other member states as blatantly homophobic.
The European Commission opened infringement proceedings against Budapest, which are still underway at the European Court of Justice. In June, an adviser to the bloc’s top court argued that the Commission’s complaint seems well-founded. Hungary could ultimately face huge fines.
In the meantime, the Commission could also request an emergency intervention from the ECJ that would suspend the 2021 law. Garcia was among those calling for the EU’s executive branch to make this move.
“We need to ensure that the Commission calls for interim measures on the part of the Court of Justice in order to suspend this scandalous child protection law,” she said.
Fabienne Keller of the liberal Renew group called for the full use of Article 7 of the Treaty of the European Union, which addresses serious and persistent breaches of EU values by member states.
“For seven years now, the Orban government has continued to dismantle the rule of law,” she said, adding that she would be among those traveling to Budapest Pride with members from the Greens, Socialists and the Left group.
Hungary has been subject to the procedure for safeguarding EU rule of law since 2018. But the Commission has, so far, not made use of the so-called nuclear option and suspended Hungary’s voting rights on joint EU matters.
Commission ‘ready to use all tools’
On Wednesday, European Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath pointed to the ongoing infringement proceedings on the 2021 law, with a ruling from the ECJ expected in the coming months. Officials were currently examining the latest legal changes, he said.
“Our union is founded on freedom and equality. Everyone should be able to be who they are to live freely and love whom they choose,” said McGrath, who is Irish.
“The European Union and the European Commission is ready to use all its tools to ensure that EU law is upheld right across our union,” he added without specifying exactly how it would do so.
It is far from the first time Hungary has faced such criticism in the European Parliament. Orbán, who brands himself as an illiberal nationalist, has long been accused of undermining basic democratic standards in Hungary with years of reforms to the judiciary and press.
Hungarian far-right lawmaker Kinga Gal, a member of the EU legislature from Orban’s Fidesz party, said Wednesday’s debate “perfectly fits into the witch hunt and the hysteria that we’ve experienced for several years against Hungary.”
“We will defend our children,” the EU lawmaker from the Patriots for Europe group said.
Edited by: Sean Sinico
