Luxembourg has joined 19 other EU countries in calling on the European Commission to take action against Hungary over a draft law which would ban the country’s annual pride march next month.

Twenty countries, led by the Netherlands and also including Luxembourg, France, Germany and Belgium, published a joint declaration on Tuesday.

At issue are a number of measures adopted by the Hungarian Parliament in recent years targeting the LGBTQ+ community, and in particular a law passed in mid-March banning certain events, such as the Pride March, due to be held in Budapest on 28 June.

“We are deeply concerned by recent legislative and constitutional changes infringing on the fundamental rights of LGBTIQ+ people,” the declaration states, as well as “the implications of these measures on freedom of expression, the right to peaceful assembly and right to privacy.”

The declaration therefore calls on the commission to “expeditiously make full use of the rule of law toolbox at its disposal” if the Hungarian authorities do not reverse these measures themselves.

European commissioners asked not to attend Pride

In the two months since Viktor Orbán’s government announced it was banning the Pride march, the organisers have said that they will hold the event regardless, and many MEPs have stated that they will attend. However, the European Commission has remained largely silent.

On Monday, a report in Euractiv claimed that the European Commission’s Presidency Office had even discreetly recommended that European commissioners should not take part in the Pride March, in order to avoid provoking Viktor Orbán.

Also read:Hungary’s Orbán to tighten laws on assembly after protests

A ‘scandalous’ decision

“It’s scandalous,” said Luxembourg MEP Marc Angel (LSAP), who is one of the European parliamentarians who will be attending the Pride March on 28 June. Angel is openly gay.

“Since Pride was banned, there has only been one tweet from Ursula von der Leyen’s commission, and now she is recommending that we don’t go so as not to provoke Viktor Orbán. I find that ridiculous, especially as Viktor Orbán has been provoking the European Union for years,” he said.

Ursula von der Leyen was elected on the promise of a pro-European, pro-democracy coalition, so now is the time to prove where she stands

Marc Angel

Luxembourg MEP

The MEP criticised the president of the commission for going easy on not only Orbán, but also Giorgia Meloni and other conservative or far-right governments.

“She may need them for other measures she wants to take,” he said. “But she needs to make up her mind: she got elected promising a pro-European, pro-democracy coalition, so now is the time to prove where she stands.”

Also read:Luxembourg continues decline in LGBTQ+ rights ranking

Parliamentary petition

Together with his Italian MEP Alessandro Zan (S&D), Angel has initiated a parliamentary petition, published on Tuesday and addressed to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, expressing deep concern at the decision to advise European commissioners not to attend the next Pride in Budapest.

“For several years, the Hungarian government has been waging an anti-LGBTIQ+ campaign, which has now culminated in the banning of Budapest Pride,” the letter reads.

“This ban is accompanied by provisions that are incompatible with European Union law and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights” and “undermines not only the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, but also the entire European project,” it says.

A first gesture could be to send a representative of the European Commission to the Budapest Pride to show that the European Union is defending its values

Marc Angel

MEP

The two MEPs are therefore urging the European Commission “to take a firm and visible stand in support of citizens’ rights, European law, equality, freedom of assembly and human rights” and to “defend European values without compromise.”

A first step could be to send a representative of the European Commission to the Budapest Pride event “to show that the European Union is defending its values,” said Angel.

The ideal candidate, according to Angel, is the EU’s Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, whose mandate includes proposing a renewed strategy for equal treatment of LGBTQ+ people. The former Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, also attended such events.

On 28 June in Budapest, delegations from the progressive forces in the European Parliament, from the Socialists to the Liberals, the Greens and the Left, are expected to attend.

“It goes far beyond the rights of one country, it’s our values that are at stake,” said Angel. “This will be a demonstration to defend European values.”

(This article was originally published by Virgule. Machine translated, with editing and adaptation by John Monaghan)