LUXEMBOURG: The European Court of Justice’s top legal advisor recommended Thursday that Hungary be declared in breach of EU law over anti-LGBTQ legislation adopted in 2021, in a case pitting Budapest against a majority of its EU partners.
The European Commission, 16 of 27 member states and the European Parliament took Hungary to the EU’s top court over the law, in what has been billed as the largest human rights case in the bloc’s history.
Originally aimed at toughening punishments for child abuse, the law was amended to ban the “promotion of homosexuality” to under-18s.
It outraged activists and leaders across the EU who criticised it for stigmatising LGBTQ people and equating same-sex relations to paedophilia.
The top legal advisor to the Luxembourg court, Tamara Capeta, considers the bill to violate core EU precepts of non-discrimination and fundamental rights as well as undermining its rules on services and audiovisual media, a court statement said.
She recommended that the court declare Budapest in “infringement” of Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which sets out the fundamental values on which the bloc is founded.
Capeta “considers that by calling into question the equality of LGBTI persons, Hungary… has negated several of those fundamental values and, thus, has significantly deviated from the model of a constitutional democracy, reflected in Article 2 TEU,“ the statement said.
The opinion of the advocate general is not binding on the court, which is expected to issue a ruling later this year.
The case, the latest confrontation between Brussels and the government of Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, could have far-reaching consequences.
A finding against Budapest could lead to a large fine and potentially kickstart a procedure to suspend Hungary’s voting rights in EU meetings.
Provisions in the Hungarian bill, the advocate general found, “interfere” with a number of protections under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The rights in question are the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex and sexual orientation, the respect for private and family life, the freedom of expression and information, and the right to human dignity.
Capeta also deemed the Hungarian law to infringe EU rules on the “freedom to provide and receive services”.
The central European country, under Orban’s rule, has passed a series of laws slammed as curbing the rights of sexual and gender minorities — including a bill seeking to ban Pride march set for June 28 that is based on the 2021 legislation.
Since the law was implemented, broadcasters have been forbidden to show LGBTQ content during the day and shops prevented from selling LGBTQ-themed products within a 200-metre (220-yard) radius of churches and schools.
Some bookshops have faced fines for carrying graphic novels and other titles with LGBTQ characters in their youth sections, according to advocacy group Reclaim.
