EU to take steps against Hungary over anti-LGBT bill
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[June 23, 2021]
(Reuters) - The European Commission
will take action against Hungary over planned new restrictions on LGBT
rights, the head of the bloc's executive said on Wednesday, saying they
violated fundamental EU values.
Hungary's parliament last week approved a bill that bans the
dissemination of material in schools deemed to promote homosexuality or
gender change, despite protests and criticism from human rights groups
and opposition parties.
"The Hungarian bill is a shame," European Commission chief Ursula von
der Leyen told reporters in Brussels, stressing the EU would not
compromise on principles such as human dignity, equality and the respect
for human rights.
"I have instructed my responsible commissioners to write to the
Hungarian authorities expressing our legal concerns before the bill
enters into force."
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Hungary's president, a former lawmaker from the ruling Fidesz party, is
expected soon to sign the bill into law.
On Tuesday, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Ireland and other
European countries condemned Hungary over the draft law. A Swedish
minister described it as "grotesque".
Facing an election next year, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has
grown increasingly combative on social issues, saying he wants to
protect traditional Christian values against what he sees as the
excesses of Western liberalism.
EMBRACING DIVERSITY
Von der Leyen said the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender)
bill clearly contradicted the very values on which the European Union
was founded.
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![](../images/062321PIX/news_s37.jpg)
Demonstrators march as they protest against Hungarian Prime Minister
Viktor Orban and the latest anti-LGBTQ law in Budapest, Hungary,
June 14, 2021. REUTERS/Marton Monus
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"I strongly believe in a European Union where you are free to love
whom you want. And I believe in a European Union that embraces
diversity, this is the foundation of our values," she told a news
conference in remarks greeted by applause.
"So I will use all the powers of the Commission to ensure that the
rights of all EU citizens are guaranteed - whoever you are and
wherever you live."
The EU has long accused Hungary of undermining the rule of law and
has launched a formal legal investigation of Orban's government.
In a decade in power, Orban has used public money including EU funds
to build a loyal business elite while curbing the independence of
the media, non-governmental organisations and universities, his
critics say. Orban, who has a large parliamentary majority, denies
undermining Hungarian democracy.
(Reporting by Sabine Siebold, Francesco Guarascio and Marine
Strauss; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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