The European Commission decided on Friday 15 July to refer Hungary to the EU Court of Justice over its law discriminating against LGBTIQ+ people and the Hungarian rules on electronic communication, which Budapest used to ban the licence application of independent radio station Klubradio (see other article).
While the adoption of the law discriminating against LGBTIQ+ people in June 2021 caused a strong reaction from EU European Affairs Ministers, who joined forces in a joint statement (see EUROPE 12746/1), the Commission considers that Budapest has not sufficiently addressed its concerns “with regard to equality and the protection of fundamental rights”.
A letter of formal notice was sent to the Hungarian authorities in July 2021, followed by a reasoned opinion in December against this law, which prohibits or limits access by under-18s to content promoting or representing “deviations from personal identity corresponding to sex at birth, gender reassignment or homosexuality”.
“The Commission has never disputed the right to protection of children” (Budapest’s argument to justify this law), “but the Hungarian law clearly discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation”.
It goes against the fundamental values of the EU and also violates a number of rules, such as the Audiovisual Media Services Directive or the Directive on Electronic Commerce, “because the law restricts the provision to minors of services displaying content representing different sexual orientations, including when these services originate in other Member States”.
The Commission also considers that Hungary has violated the principle of freedom to provide services and the right to data protection “because the national provisions do not define precisely who can be authorised to access sensitive personal data stored in the criminal records information system and who can be targeted for access”.
For Klubradio, Hungary is in breach of “the conditions for the use of radio spectrum and the procedures for granting, extending, renewing or revoking such rights as laid down in the European Electronic Communications Code”, (see EUROPE 12655/26). A letter of formal notice and a reasoned opinion were sent in June and December 2021 respectively.
“Under EU rules, rights of use for radio frequencies must be allocated on the basis of objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria”. By its behaviour, Hungary also violated the freedom of expression enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
“For the very first time, an infringement procedure on LGBTIQ+ issues is brought before the Court”, notes MEP Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, French). “This decision is also a signal to all other European countries that any similar law, such as the one currently being discussed in Romania, will be subject to the same fate”, he adds. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)