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22h ago

Seventeen EU Countries Demand Action Over Hungary’s LGBTQ+ Event Ban

The Commission has frozen €18 billion in funds over Budapest’s rule-of-law breaches; EU capitals are weighing stripping its voting rights

A general view of the round table during a meeting of the general affairs ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
Polish Minister for the European Union Adam Szlapka, right, speaks with Sweden's Minister for European Union Affairs Jessica Rosencrantz during a meeting of the general affairs ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
Polish Minister for the European Union Adam Szlapka, right, speaks with Sweden's Minister for European Union Affairs Jessica Rosencrantz during a meeting of the general affairs ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
Hungarian Minister for European Union Affairs Janos Boka, front left, speaks with Italy's Permanent Representative to the EU Vincenzo Celeste, center, during a meeting of the general affairs ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

Overview

  • Seventeen EU member states, led by France, Germany and Spain, urged the European Commission on May 27 to revise Hungary’s April law that empowers authorities to ban and penalise LGBTQ+ public events.
  • The legislation, framed as “child protection,” allows fines for organisers and participants of Pride events and authorises facial recognition to identify attendees, but Hungary’s EU affairs minister says the ban has been misunderstood.
  • Commission rule-of-law commissioner Michael McGrath confirmed that Brussels has frozen €18 billion in funds over Budapest’s treaty breaches and is analysing the law alongside a draft bill that would empower a Sovereignty Protection Office to monitor NGOs.
  • EU officials are citing Hungary’s obstruction of multibillion-euro Ukraine aid and its democratic backsliding as grounds to trigger Article 7 proceedings, which could strip Budapest of its Council voting rights.
  • Hungary’s economy has stagnated for more than two years, slipping into contraction in the first quarter of 2025 amid high inflation and the freeze on EU funds.