EU leaders back LGBTI rights, raise stakes in standoff with Hungary

[June 24, 2021]    BERLIN (Reuters) -A majority of European Union leaders vowed to continue combating discrimination of the LGBTI community in a joint letter on Thursday, raising the stakes in the bloc's standoff with Hungary ahead of a summit later in the day.

People attend the "Equality Parade" rally in support of the LGBT community, in Warsaw, Poland June 19, 2021. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

Hungary's parliament last week approved a bill that bans the distribution of material in schools deemed to promote homosexuality or gender change, despite protests and criticism from human rights groups and opposition parties.

On Wednesday, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen described the bill as shameful, saying she had tasked her commissioners to take action before it entered into force.

In a jointly signed letter addressed to von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel, the leaders of 16 countries including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium backed the chief of the EU's executive.

"Respect and tolerance are at the heart of the European project," they said. "We are determined to continue these efforts and to ensure that Europe's future generations grow up in an environment of equality and respect."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban defended the law and declared himself a fighter for LGBT rights. "This law is not about that," he told reporters on his arrival in Brussels for the summit.

The leaders will discuss the bloc's strategy on Russia and the extension of a migration pact with Turkey, as refugee numbers are expected to rise due to NATO's withdrawal from Afghanistan and a deterioration of the security situation there.

The spat with Hungary is not part of the official agenda, but EU diplomats anticipate a debate on the issue with Orban in the evening.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who is openly gay, said the Hungarian law was unacceptable as he arrived for the EU talks.

Orban, who faces an election next year, 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.

The EU has long accused Hungary of undermining the rule of law and has launched a formal legal investigation into Orban's government.

(Writing by Sabine Siebold and Caroline Copley; editing by Riham Alkousaa and Philippa Fletcher)

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