“I call on the Hungarian authorities to allow the Budapest Pride to go ahead without fear of any criminal or administrative sanctions against the organisers or participants”.
With just three days to go before the event, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, issued a video statement on Wednesday 25 June opposing the bill passed by the Hungarian Parliament in March, which would make it illegal to organise or take part in the Pride March.
Introduced by the government of Christian-Conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the law provides for fines of up to 200,000 forints (€495) for both organisers and participants, who may be identified by surveillance technology.
This legislation is also in line with the Child Protection Act 2021 (see EUROPE 12994/1, 12742/21), which, according to the Court of Justice of the European Union, violates European law by infringing fundamental rights (see EUROPE 13654/26).
Ursula von der Leyen also referred to Europe’s “core values”, noting that the EU “is a Union of equality and non-discrimination”, and expressing her “full support and solidarity” with both the march and the LGBTIQ+ community.
Reacting immediately, the Hungarian head of state took to the social network X, where the video is available, to complain vociferously: “I urge the European Commission to refrain from interfering in the repressive affairs of Member States, where it has no role to play”.
On his arrival at the European Summit (see other news) on Thursday 26 June, Viktor Orbán was asked about the possibility of one or more of his five children taking part in Pride. “They’re adults...”, he replied laconically.
Ahead of the meeting between European heads of state and government, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said: “I am 100% in favour of freedom of expression, here in our country and throughout the world. And I will always defend this point of view”.
This position is in line with the appeal launched on 27 May by 17 Member States - including Belgium - urging the European Commission to “make full use of the rule of law ‘toolbox’ at its disposal if these measures are not revised accordingly” (https://aeur.eu/f/hkx ).
See Ursula von der Leyen’s statement: https://aeur.eu/f/hl0 (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)