Hungary PM Orban warns of legal action over banned Budapest Pride march
Hungary's parliament, in which Orban's right-wing Fidesz Party has a big majority, passed legislation in March that created a legal basis for police to ban LGBTQ marches, on the grounds that protecting children would supersede the right to assemble. It also lets police use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend and impose fines.
Critics see the move to ban Pride as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of a general election next year when Orban will face a strong opposition challenger, seen by some recent opinion polls as pulling ahead.
'We are adults, and I recommend that everyone should decide what they want, keep to the rules ... and if they don't, then they should face the clear legal consequences,' Orban told state radio.
He said police could disperse a banned event but Hungary was a 'civilised country' and the task for police was to convince people to follow the law.
'We are in the world not to make each others' lives more difficult but easier, this is the essence of Christianity,' he said.
Britain, France and Germany and 30 other countries expressed support on Monday for Hungary's LGBTQ community and the Pride march on June 28, which is to go ahead after Budapest's liberal mayor said the city would organise the march as a municipal celebration of freedom.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called on Hungarian authorities to let the Pride parade go ahead - a move which Orban likened in his radio interview to receiving orders from Moscow in communist times.
'Just like Moscow, she regards Hungary as a subordinated country and she thinks she can order Hungarians from Brussels how to live, what to like, what not to like,' Orban said.
Orban's government promotes a strongly Christian-conservative agenda and has passed several laws affecting the lives of LGBTQ people in the past decade.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Malay Mail
EU, US seal ‘biggest-ever' trade pact, scrapping tariffs on industrial goods to avert transatlantic clash
TURNBERRY, July 28 — The United States and European Union on Sunday clinched what President Donald Trump described as the 'biggest-ever' deal to resolve a transatlantic tariff stand-off that threatened to explode into a full-blown trade war. Trump emerged from a high-stakes meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his golf resort in Scotland to announce that a baseline tariff of 15 per cent would be levied on EU exports to the US. The deal, which the leaders struck in around an hour, came as the clock ticked down on an August 1 deadline to avoid an across-the-board US levy of 30 per cent on European goods. 'We've reached a deal. It's a good deal for everybody. This is probably the biggest deal ever reached in any capacity,' said Trump. Trump said the 15-per cent tariff would apply across the board, including for Europe's crucial automobile sector, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. As part of the deal, Trump said the 27-nation EU bloc had agreed to purchase 'US$750 billion worth of energy' from the United States, as well as make US$600 billion (RM2.5 trillion) in additional investments. Von der Leyen said the 'significant' purchases of US liquefied natural gas, oil and nuclear fuels would come over three years, as part of the bloc's bid to diversify away from Russian sources. Negotiating on behalf of the EU's 27 countries, von der Leyen had been pushing hard to salvage a trading relationship worth an annual US$1.9 trillion in goods and services. 'It's a good deal,' the EU chief told reporters. 'It will bring stability. It will bring predictability. That's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,' she said. She said bilateral tariff exemptions had been agreed on a number of 'strategic products,' notably aircraft, certain chemicals, some agricultural products and critical raw materials. Von der Leyen said the EU still hoped to secure further so-called 'zero-for-zero' agreements, notably for alcohol, which she hoped to be 'sorted out' in coming days. Trump also said EU countries — which recently pledged to ramp up their defence spending within Nato — would be purchasing 'hundreds of billions of dollars worth of military equipment.' 'Best we could get' The EU has been hit by multiple waves of tariffs since Trump reclaimed the White House. It is currently subject to a 25-per cent levy on cars, 50 per cent on steel and aluminium, and an across-the-board tariff of 10 per cent, which Washington threatened to hike to 30 per cent in a no-deal scenario. The bloc had been pushing hard for tariff carve-outs for critical industries from aircraft to spirits, and its auto industry, crucial for France and Germany, is already reeling from the levies imposed so far. 'Fifteen per cent is not to be underestimated, but it is the best we could get,' acknowledged von der Leyen. Any deal will need to be approved by EU member states — whose ambassadors, on a visit to Greenland, were updated by the commission Sunday morning. They were set to meet again after the deal struck in Scotland. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz rapidly hailed the deal, saying it avoided 'needless escalation in transatlantic trade relations'. But German exporters were less enthusiastic. The powerful BDI federation of industrial groups said the accord would have 'considerable negative repercussions' while the country's VCI chemical trade association said the accord left rates 'too high'. The EU had pushed for a compromise on steel that could allow a certain quota into the United States before tariffs would apply. Trump appeared to rule that out, saying steel was 'staying the way it is', but the EU chief insisted later that 'tariffs will be cut and a quota system will be put in place' for steel. 'The big one' While 15 per cent is much higher than pre-existing US tariffs on European goods, which average around 4.8 per cent, it mirrors the status quo, with companies currently facing an additional flat rate of 10 per cent. Had the talks failed, EU states had greenlit counter tariffs on US$109 billion (€93 billion) of US goods including aircraft and cars to take effect in stages from August 7. Trump has embarked on a campaign to reshape US trade with the world, and has vowed to hit dozens of countries with punitive tariffs if they do not reach a pact with Washington by August 1. Asked what the next deal would be, Trump replied: 'This was the big one. This is the biggest of them all.' — AFP
New Straits Times
3 hours ago
- New Straits Times
US and EU avert trade war with 15 per cent tariff deal
THE US struck a framework trade agreement with the European Union on Sunday, imposing a 15 per cent import tariff on most EU goods - half the threatened rate - and averting a bigger trade war between the two allies that account for almost a third of global trade. US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal at Trump's luxury golf course in western Scotland after an hour-long meeting that pushed the hard-fought deal over the line, following months of negotiations. "I think this is the biggest deal ever made," Trump told reporters, lauding EU plans to invest some US$600 billion in the United States and dramatically increase its purchases of US energy and military equipment. Trump said the deal, which tops a US$550 billion deal signed with Japan last week, would expand ties between the trans-Atlantic powers after years of what he called unfair treatment of US exporters. Von der Leyen, describing Trump as a tough negotiator, said the 15 per cent tariff applied "across the board", later telling reporters it was "the best we could get." "We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability," she said. The agreement mirrors key parts of the framework accord reached by the US with Japan, but like that deal, it leaves many questions open, including tariff rates on spirits, a highly charged topic for many on both sides of the Atlantic. The deal, which Trump said calls for US$750 billion of EU purchases of US energy in coming years and "hundreds of billions of dollars" of arms purchases, likely spells good news for a host of EU companies, including Airbus, Mercedes-Benz and Novo Nordisk, if all the details hold. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the deal, saying it averted a trade conflict that would have hit Germany's export-driven economy and its large auto sector hard. German carmakers, VW, Mercedes and BMW were some of the hardest hit by the 27.5 per cent US tariff on car and parts imports now in place. The baseline 15 per cent tariff will still be seen by many in Europe as too high, compared with Europe's initial hopes to secure a zero-for-zero tariff deal. Bernd Lange, the German Social Democrat who heads the European Parliament's trade committee, said the tariffs were imbalanced and the hefty EU investment earmarked for the US would likely come at the bloc's own expense. Trump retains the ability to increase the tariffs in the future if European countries do not live up to their investment commitments, a senior US administration official told reporters on Sunday evening. The euro rose around 0.2 per cent against the dollar, sterling and yen within an hour of the deal's being announced. MIRROR OF JAPAN DEAL Carsten Nickel, deputy director of research at Teneo, said Sunday's accord was "merely a high-level, political agreement" that could not replace a carefully hammered out trade deal: "This, in turn, creates the risk of different interpretations along the way, as seen immediately after the conclusion of the US-Japan deal." While the tariff applies to most goods, including semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, there are exceptions. The US will keep in place a 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum. Von der Leyen suggested the tariff could be replaced with a quota system; a senior administration official said EU leaders had asked that the two sides continue to talk about the issue. Von der Leyen said there would be no tariffs from either side on aircraft and aircraft parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products, natural resources and critical raw materials. "We will keep working to add more products to this list," von der Leyen said, adding that spirits were still under discussion. A US official said the tariff rate on commercial aircraft would remain at zero for now, and the parties would decide together what to do after a US review is completed, adding there is a "reasonably good chance" they could agree to a lower tariff than 15 per cent. No timing was given for when that probe would be completed. The deal will be sold as a triumph for Trump, who is seeking to reorder the global economy and reduce decades-old US trade deficits, and has already reached similar framework accords with Britain, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although his administration has not hit its goal of "90 deals in 90 days." US officials said the EU had agreed to lower non-tariff barriers for automobiles and some agricultural products, though EU officials suggested the details of those standards were still under discussion. "Remember, their economy is US$20 trillion ... they are five times bigger than Japan," a senior US official told reporters during a briefing. "So the opportunity of opening their market is enormous for our farmers, our fishermen, our ranchers, all our industrial products, all our businesses." Trump has periodically railed against the EU, saying it was "formed to screw the United States" on trade. He has fumed for years about the US merchandise trade deficit with the EU, which in 2024 reached US$235 billion, according to US Census Bureau data. The EU points to the US surplus in services, which it says partially redresses the balance. Trump has argued that his tariffs are bringing in "hundreds of billions of dollars" in revenues for the US while dismissing warnings from economists about the risk of inflation. On July 12, Trump threatened to apply a 30 per cent tariff on imports from the EU starting on August 1, after weeks of negotiations failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal. The EU had prepared countertariffs on €93 billion (US$109 billion) of US goods in the event a deal to avoid the tariffs could not be struck. — REUTERS
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
US and EU agree on 15% tariff deal to prevent trade war
TURNBERRY: The United States and the European Union have reached a trade agreement imposing a 15% tariff on most EU goods, averting a potential trade war between the two economic powerhouses. The deal, announced by US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, includes $600 billion in EU investments in the US and increased purchases of American energy and military equipment. Trump hailed the agreement as 'the biggest deal ever made,' while von der Leyen described it as a stabilizing force for global trade. The 15% tariff is significantly lower than the threatened 30% rate, offering relief to European exporters. However, US steel and aluminium tariffs remain at 50%, though discussions on reducing them are ongoing. The deal mirrors a recent US-Japan trade agreement but leaves some details unresolved, including tariffs on spirits. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the agreement, noting it prevents severe economic disruption for Germany's auto industry. However, critics argue the deal favors the US, with EU investments potentially coming at the bloc's expense. The euro strengthened slightly following the announcement, reflecting market optimism. The agreement covers key sectors like automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors, though specifics on certain products remain under negotiation. Trump emphasized the deal's benefits for US industries, while von der Leyen highlighted its role in ensuring predictability in transatlantic trade. The agreement marks a significant step in Trump's broader trade strategy, though challenges remain in finalizing details. - AFP
