Their reactions were slow in coming, but the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, finally expressed publicly their concern about the adoption of discriminatory legal provisions against LGBTI persons in Hungary (see EUROPE 12742/21). Both reacted via Twitter on Wednesday 16 June in the evening.
Mrs von der Leyen said she was “very concerned” about the measures to ban the portrayal of homosexuality or trans-identifying people in schools, media and public service advertisements for those under 18.
“I believe in a Europe that embraces diversity, not a Europe that hides it from our children. No one should be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation”, the President said on Twitter. “The European Commission has a duty to protect this principle”, commented Helena Dalli.
The commissioner also assured Reuters that the EU would be ready to take similar measures to those adopted last summer against six Polish localities declared “LGBTI-free zones” (see EUROPE 12538/16 ).
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reacted to the European statements by denouncing a “left-wing campaign” undermining “pluralism of ideas”.
“Parents rightly expect that on the platforms used by our children, pornography, sex for its own sake, homosexuality and sex reassignment programmes will not be available”, the Prime Minister insisted in a statement on Thursday.
The President and the Commissioner confirmed that the Commission would examine the compatibility of the Hungarian measures with EU law.
There is no doubt that these measures run counter to the EU strategy for LGBTI rights (see EUROPE 12600/23), which highlights media and education as a “powerful tool” to combat the stigmatisation of LGBTI people. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)