The Director of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), Michael O’Flaherty, briefed MEPs in the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) on Thursday 16 July on the results of a recent FRA study on the equality of LGBTI people.
These results, considered “discouraging” by Mr O’Flaherty when the study was published last May (see EUROPE 12488/18), were also condemned by the majority of the political groups.
Calling for the EU to take the necessary steps to redress the situation, most coordinators also expressed their concerns about Poland.
The country, regularly challenged in Parliament in debates on the rule of law, re-elected its outgoing president, Andrzej Duda (PiS), on Sunday, after he made numerous anti-LGBTI statements during his campaign (see EUROPE 12515/30).
In her speech, Delara Burkhardt (S&D, Germany) was highly critical of the fact that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had merely congratulated Mr Duda on his re-election “without even criticising the fact that incitement to hatred had played such an important role in his campaign”.
Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew Europe, Netherlands), for her part, encouraged the Commission “to be much more courageous when dealing with countries such as Poland and Hungary”.
Condemning in particular the implementation in several Polish localities of “areas free of LGBT ideology” (see EUROPE 12499/26), Vladimír Bilčík (EPP, Slovakia), for his part, considered it important for the EU “to succeed in combating practices of great concern in some Member States”.
Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA, Germany), for her part, reacted to the fact that only 4% of those surveyed in the FRA survey in Poland said they considered “that the government in their country effectively combats prejudice and intolerance”. The member called the result “completely shocking”.
“We are not here to be tolerated ( ...) we are here to be included, fully with all our rights”, concluded Malin Björk (GUE/NGL, Sweden), echoing Ms Reintke’s speech.
Finally, on the same day, the LIBE Committee also adopted the interim report by its Chair, Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D), on establishing a clear risk of violation of fundamental EU values in Poland (see EUROPE 12529/13).
To view the FRA study: https://bit.ly/3614ON6 (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)