Despite the rally’s ban, authorities acknowledge conflicting information may have misled attendees about its legality.Continue reading
“The European Commission stands firmly and proudly with the LGBTQI community in Hungary and in all EU Member States,” EU Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath said on Wednesday in Strasbourg.
The EU Commissioner expressed his gratitude to those who participated in the plenary debate on Budapest Pride at the European Parliament. “This sent a strong message not only to the LGBTQI community, but also to our European values of freedom, tolerance, and democracy,” he emphasized. He pointed out that the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of love, and the freedom to live one’s identity are fundamental pillars of democracies, and at the same time, the cornerstones of a European Union based on equality.
He emphasized that the Commission is committed to an EU based on equality and will continue its policy of protecting people belonging to the LGBTQI community. This includes the renewal of the 2020-2025 strategy, which will be finalized by the end of the year. The draft aims to curb hate-based violence and harassment and ban so-called conversion therapies.
Klára Dobrev, MEP for the Democratic Coalition (Demokratikus Koalíció-DK), said in her speech: “June 28, with the Pride event, marked the beginning of the last summer of the Orbán regime.” Dobrev said that nothing will be the same as before because, despite the ban on Pride, an unprecedented number of people took to the streets to show that “Orbán does not equal Hungary, and the exhausted right-wing ideology has not completely infected the Hungarian people.”
She criticized the ruling right wing for banning the event, but also criticized the “opposition right wing” for wanting to “sweep the event under the rug” and not mobilizing people to attend. “This is the second time we are debating the rights of LGBTQI people in Hungary in the European Parliament, and the representatives of the Tisza Party are not even present in the chamber,” she pointed out.
According to Zsuzsanna Borvendég, MEP for Our Homeland (Mi Hazánk), while serious problems such as the demographic and energy crises, deteriorating public safety, immigration, competitiveness gaps, and corruption scandals are plaguing Europe, the EP is once again putting Hungary in the spotlight.
She criticized Budapest Pride, which she said was illegal, yet the participants were not punished, while the legal assembly of Mi Hazánk members was restricted.
The MEP called it “shameful” that the EP is demanding “anti-discrimination” laws because of alleged right-wing attacks, while in her opinion, extreme violence is actually committed by immigrants and Antifa members. She criticized EP members for provocatively participating in an event that was banned by law, calling it a serious interference in internal affairs. She also referred to the case of Ilaria Salis, who, she said, is accused of assaulting innocent people together with her Antifa comrades, yet her parliamentary immunity has not been suspended.
Fidesz MEP András László believes that everything at Budapest Pride proved that the event was a politically motivated provocation orchestrated from abroad. He said that 71 MEPs had come to Budapest, which was why the umpteenth Pride debate was now taking place in the European Parliament.
He emphasized that a European commissioner appeared in person in Budapest to announce a 1.5 billion EUR NGO funding package in the company of the left-wing mayor, Gergely Karácsony, even though the EU already supports the LGBTQI lobby with millions.
On the eve of Pride, when international summits were taking place, Ursula von der Leyen still found time to send a personalized video message on an issue over which she has no authority. Yet when illegal immigrants commit attacks, she does not usually send video messages to the victims and their families,”
he noted.
He emphasized that this is nothing more than political theater. ”We know the recipe. Left-wing activists always work from the same Saul Alinsky playbook. Left-wing provocations always have the same goal: violence,“ he said. He added that the left-wing media eagerly follows these events so that, when the right moment comes, it can trumpet to the world that oppression has taken place — but this time, it ”did not work.”
“We Hungarians do not want ideological colonization,” he concluded.
He also recalled that 3.7 million Hungarians voted in a referendum in favor of child protection measures.
Via MTI; Featured photo: Facebook/László András