Tension grows between EU and Hungarian government over Budapest LGBT parade ban

Tensions between the European Union (EU) and Hungarian authorities escalated Tuesday after 17 European countries criticized Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government, accusing it of violating fundamental rights by passing laws banning the LGBT parade.

Last March, the Hungarian Parliament passed a law that became the basis for banning the traditional annual Pride parades, claiming that such events are harmful to minors.

Last April, Parliament also approved amendments to Hungary’s Constitution defining gender strictly as male and female. 

The 17 European countries released a joint statement expressing concern over Budapest’s measures, saying they violate "fundamental values and human dignity, freedom, equality and respect for human rights, as set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union."

The declaration was signed by Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

The signatories urged the Orbán government to reverse these decisions and called on the European Commission to take action against Hungary if the authorities fail to comply.

The statement comes just before an EU meeting set to address the issue. If an agreement is reached, Hungary could be stripped of its voting rights in European Union decision-making. However, such an outcome is considered unlikely.

Orbán: "We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids"

After the March parliamentary vote, Prime Minister Orbán took to X to celebrate the decision: "Today, we voted to ban gatherings that violate child protection laws," he said.

"In Hungary, a child’s right to healthy physical, mental, intellectual, and moral development comes first. We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids," he added.