The level of the clash between the EU leaders and Viktor Orbán’s Hungary rises. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has dealt a direct blow to the Hungarian leader and to the law banning the sharing of homosexual content to minors. “The heads of state and government have conducted a very personal and emotional discussion on the Hungarian law, practically homosexuality is placed at the level of pornography, and this law does not serve the protection of children, it is a pretext for discrimination. This law is shameful, ”der Leyen told the plenary debate in the European Parliament on the conclusions of the last European Council. If Hungary does not “adjust the shot”, added von der Leyen, the Commission “will use the powers conferred on it as guarantor of the treaties, we must make it clear that we use these powers regardless of the member state”.
Poland is also in the sights: “We will react on LGBT free zones”
The thrust of von der Leyen seals the increasingly hostile climate between Brussels and Budapest, after years of skirmishes that have already led to the activation of Article 7 of the treaties against Hungary. In this last case, the “powers” evoked by von der Leyen would perhaps consist in stopping the funds destined for Budapest by the Next Generation EU, equal to a value of about 7 billion euros. “Since the beginning of my mandate we have opened about forty infringement procedures related to the protection of the rule of law and other EU values and if necessary we will open other procedures” specified von der Leyen.
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The EU’s squeeze on respect for the rights of the LGBT community also concerns another country accused of autocratic inclinations: Poland. Von der Leyen, again in the debate in plenary, stigmatized the establishment of the so-called “LGBT free” zones, that is the administrations of the country that qualify themselves as free from the alleged “LGBT ideology”. «We cannot – said von der Leyen – stand by and watch when there are regions that declare themselves free from LGBTs. We will never let part of our society be stigmatized because of what we think, ethnicity, political opinions or religious beliefs ». “Let’s not forget that when we defend parts of our society we defend the freedom of our whole society,” he added.
At the moment, no reactions have arrived from the person concerned, Orbán. The Hungarian prime minister had already returned the accusations to the sender, reiterating the thesis that the law “is not homophobic” and was conceived for the protection of minors. The reaction of his allies or potential allies is clearer, such as the leader of the conservative and reformist group Giorgia Meloni. Von der Leyen’s lunge, he said, would be “yet another unacceptable political blackmail against the legitimate government of a sovereign nation.”