Situation in Gaza is ‘abhorrent and unbearable', Ursula von der Leyen says
The humanitarian situation facing Palestinian people inside
Gaza
is 'abhorrent and unbearable' and aid needs to be allowed into the territory immediately, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said.
Speaking after a summit of EU leaders, Ms Von der Leyen said
Israel
needed to let aid flow into Gaza 'immediately and unimpeded'.
European leaders remain divided on how best to put pressure on Israel to address the humanitarian conditions in Gaza.
The
European Union
's 27 leaders signed off on a joint statement deploring the 'dire' humanitarian situation in Gaza, caused by Israel's ongoing military campaign. The communique went on to criticise the 'unacceptable' number of civilians killed and the levels of starvation in the Palestinian enclave.
READ MORE
Negotiations at the EU summit did not bridge the significant difference of opinion in the room about pushing Israel to allow aid into Gaza.
'We cannot remain passive … The union cannot remain inactive,' António Costa, president of the European Council who chairs the summits, said afterwards.
'Nobody can ignore what we watch on TV and what we read in the press; the humanitarian situation in Gaza is completely unacceptable.'
Spain
, Ireland,
Belgium
, Slovenia and others want firmer action from the EU, which could include suspending a free trade deal with Israel, or putting sanctions on hardline Israeli ministers.
Germany
,
Italy
,
Austria
and others advocate for the bloc to continue to raise its concerns with Israel through diplomatic channels.
Spain's left-wing prime minister Pedro Sánchez said the EU had put together 18 packages of economic sanctions targeting Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The fact the bloc's trade deal with Israel had not been suspended despite the 'genocide' in Gaza pointed to a double standard, he said.
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Suspending the EU-Israel agreement would not improve the situation for Palestinian civilians, said Austrian chancellor Christian Stocker, who spoke with Israeli prime minister
Binyamin Netanyahu
on the phone the day before the summit.
'The civilian population must not pay the price for
Hamas
terror. Netanyahu has pledged to step up all efforts in this direction so that humanitarian aid can be delivered,' he said.
Renewed focus has been put on the EU's response to Israel's invasion of Gaza, which has levelled much of the besieged territory and killed more than 56,000 Palestinians.
Several 'like-minded' European countries should move ahead on their own if the EU fails to agree to take action as a bloc, Slovenian prime minister Robert Golob said.
'It is high time that we do not show just solidarity, but we put some real pressure on the Israeli government,' Mr Golob said.
Taoiseach
Micheál Martin
said the refusal of some EU states to consider action against Israel to address the 'catastrophic' humanitarian crisis in Gaza was 'difficult to comprehend'.
A recent
EU review concluded Israel had committed human rights violations
during its war in Gaza, leading to calls for the bloc to use what leverage it has to push Mr Netanyahu to change course.
It is understood the EU's foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas was asked to prepare options to take in response to the review to table at a meeting of foreign ministers next month.
The summit also discussed the war in
Ukraine
,
tariff
negotiations involving the United States, the ceasefire between
Iran
and Israel and defence spending.
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AG says he cannot help on legal query over Shannon flights that may aid Israel's Gaza war
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Slovakia's populist prime minister
Robert Fico
threatened to withhold support for a further package of sanctions on Russia, which needs unanimous approval, if he did not get concessions on new EU proposals to phase out reliance on Russian gas.
Separately, Hungary's far-right prime minister
Viktor Orban
said he would continue to block Ukraine moving forward in its bid to join the EU.
Brussels started what will be years-long negotiations with Kyiv last June to consider accepting Ukraine into the 27-state bloc, but Hungary has since vetoed the process moving forward.
Speaking before the summit, Mr Orban said he did not want Ukraine to advance into more detailed accession talks while it remained at war with Russia.
'If we integrate [Ukraine] into the European Union, we would integrate the war and we would not like to be together in a community with one country who is at war,' he said.
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Irish Independent
2 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Irish politicians attend huge banned Budapest Pride event as Victor Orbán threatens ‘legal consequences' to marchers
They were among a record number of people expected to attend the event, despite Mr Orbán threatening there would be 'legal consequences' for organisers and attendees. More than 100,000 people are thought to have attended the event which saw large parts of central Budapest overtaken by the movement. Mr O'Gorman and MEPs Maria Walsh and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú were in the crowd marching through the Hungarian capital today. Those in attendance 'face the possibility of arrest, a fine of up to €500 and imprisonment of up to one year under Hungarian law,' said Ms Walsh, who urged any Irish citizens intending on travelling to Budapest to be on 'high alert'. The Fine Gael MEP described the decision to ban Pride marches in Hungary as a 'frightening step backwards for members of the LGBTQI+ community across Europe'. 'I am proud to be marching in Budapest Pride this weekend. In a year when Orbán has classified public displays of love within my own community as a child protection issue, we must all fight back." The Hungarian government enacted a hugely controversial so-called 'child protection' law in 2021 that prohibits the "depiction or promotion' of homosexuality to children under the age of 18. A bill was also passed by the parliament that makes it illegal to hold any public gatherings that breached that law, with further legislation effectively banning Pride events. The European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled in a case involving Russia that banning such events breaches human rights protections. Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, who will attend the march today, described the banning of Pride as a 'blatant attack on our civil liberties with the European Union'. She backed calls for the European Commission to intervene, including requesting interim measures in the ongoing infringement procedure against Hungary's 2021 anti-LGBTQ+ law. "The Hungarian Government's repeated violations of the rule of law and EU treaty principles is setting a dangerous precedent.' Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who was in Hungary for a conference earlier this week, said the atmosphere in Budapest has been 'tense' in the days ahead of the march. He told RTÉ's Drivetime that while he expects Hungarian authorities will not use 'batons and tear gas on tens of thousands of people' as 'the world would see that', the Green Party mayor of the city could be prosecuted and facial recognition technology will be used to identify attendees and fine them. "This is very oppressive, this is all contrary to European law, by the way, so I think there's a role for the European Union to play here in overturning some of these laws.' It comes as tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in Dublin's Pride parade today.
RTÉ News
2 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Budapest Pride parade will go ahead despite ban
Budapest's mayor Gergely Karácsony has said that tomorrow's Budapest Pride parade will go ahead as planned despite a ban by Hungarian authorities. Speaking at a press conference this afternoon at Budapest City Hall, Mr Karácsony said that Hungary had become a "laboratory" for "breaking down" democracy over the past 15 years, a reference to Fidesz party rule since 2010. "If, in a European member country, a Pride march can be banned, then no European voters can feel safe," said Mr Karácsony, a member of the Hungarian Green Party. "This case belongs to all of Europe and has become a European affair, and no one can be a second class citizen in Hungary and the European Union," he added. Mr Karácsony said that more than 30 countries will be represented by MEPs and national politicians at tomorrow's parade, which will start at 2pm local time. He argued that events organised by municipalities are not subject to Hungary's amended Assembly Law, the act used by the government to ban this year's Pride. Joining Mr Karácsony at the press conference, European Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib said that she had come to Hungary "to uphold our European values of dignity and humanity". "Over decades we have built our union, a European home, brick by brick and we will defend it brick by brick," said Ms Lahbib, adding that "all eyes were on Budapest" this weekend. Speaking on Hungarian public radio this morning, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said there would be "legal consequences" for those who organise and attend the parade. "It is not the job of the police to use physical force, but to persuade people to follow the law," said Mr Orban. "Of course, there are cases when the police must use force, for instance against criminals, but that is not what this is about". Budapest Pride ban at centre of Viktor Orbán's culture war The parade is expected to be attended by tens of thousands of members of Hungary's LGBTQ+ community tomorrow as it is every year. Adam Kanicsár, a 35-year-old Hungarian LGBTQ+ activist and journalist, says all his friends have "a plan B" to leave Hungary if the current Christian-conservative government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wins the country's parliamentary election next year. "What we have learnt in Hungary is that there is a new bottom line every day," Mr Kanicsár told RTÉ News from his home in Budapest. For him, last week's decision by Budapest police to ban tomorrow's annual Pride parade in the city marks a "new low point" for Mr Orbán's Fidesz party, which has governed Hungary since 2010. Mr Kanicsár plans to attend Pride tomorrow with friends, along with many other thousands of people from Hungary's LGBTQ+ community who intend to defy the ban on the annual parade, celebrating its 30th edition this year. By banning the parade, Budapest police say they are enforcing an amendment to Hungary's Assembly Act, passed last March by the Hungarian parliament where Fidesz has a two-thirds majority. It is expected that more than 70 MEPs will attend tomorrow's parade in Budapest in support of Hungary's LGBTQ+ community. European Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib and Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Michael O'Flaherty, will attend. Green Party Roderic O'Gorman will also travel to the Hungarian capital for the parade to support its organisers, including the mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony, who is a member of the Hungarian Green Party. "I think it's really important to show solidarity in light of the seriousness of what's happening with the banning of a Pride parade," Mr O'Gorman said. "We've seen the Hungarian government chip away at the rights of the LGBT+ community over the last number of years and they've used the same kind of playbook that we've seen far-right authoritarian regimes use elsewhere, linking restrictions to the LGBT+ community with child protection," he added. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr O'Gorman said he was invited by the mayor of Budapest, who is a member of the Hungarian Green party. He said: "Interestingly, while the national government have banned the Pride Parade, they've given permission to a number of far right organisations, and one paramilitary organisation to make counter demonstrations across the city. So I think it kind of shows what their what their priorities are". Last month, Ireland was one of 20 EU member states to sign a joint statement accusing Hungary of contravening fundamental EU values by passing laws that target LGBTQ+ people. A potential ban on Pride was first mentioned by Mr Orbán in late February, during his annual state of the union address, when he said that Pride organisers should "not bother preparing for this year's parade". The bill, passed by parliament in March and signed into law in April, made it illegal to hold public assemblies that breach Hungary's Child Protection Law from 2021, an act that prohibits the depiction or promotion of homosexuality and gender transition to minors across all forms of content, including films, books and advertisements. The 2021 law, also dubbed the 'propaganda law', was widely criticised by Hungary's liberal opposition and human rights NGOs in Hungary and across Europe as anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. In order to copper-fasten the Assembly Law amendment, last April, parliament also passed amendments to Hungary's Fundamental Law, the country's constitution, outlining that the rights of a child "take precedence over all other fundamental rights, except the right to life". That change meant that Hungary's legal definition of children's rights superseded the right to assembly, effectively banning Pride events. "The 'propaganda law' only limited freedom of speech but now the right of assembly is also affected," said Dr Eszter Polgári, a lawyer at the Háttér Society, a Hungarian LGBTQ+ advocacy group. Fidesz advocates for a traditional, conservative family model. Civil union between same-sex couples has been recognised in Hungary since 2009, though the constitution recognises marriage as "the union of one man and one woman". In 2020, Hungary's parliament voted to limit adoption to married couples, preventing gay couples from adopting children. That same year, the government introduced legislation that banned legal gender recognition for people wishing to have their gender identity recognised as different from their gender at birth. Taking stock of his party's record in government during his state of the nation address in February, Mr Orbán said: "We have given the country a new, Christian, national constitution, we have protected ourselves from migration, we have protected our children from gender activists". It is unclear how Budapest police will approach tomorrow's parade given that organisers and the LGBTQ+ community are determined to hold the parade as usual. "Most likely the police will announce that this is a prohibited march but it's more problematic for the organisers," said Ms Polgári. Hungarian police will not have the right to arrest people for attending the parade but they will have the authority to issue fines of between €15 and €500. Those fines, said Ms Polgári, would be issued for participating in an assembly that is prohibited under the Assembly Act. Hungarian police can also use facial recognition technology to identify those who attend. "It's not just about the LGBTQ rights and culture, but it's really about freedom of speech, and it's really about our freedom," said Mr Kanicsár. "If they can ban Pride, and ban people from coming to the street and making their voices heard, then they can ban it for every situation." The stakes are even higher for the parade organisers, which include Budapest Pride, an NGO that organises the event annually and Budapest city hall, represented by the mayor, Mr Karácsony. They could face up to one year in prison for defying the ban. Mr Karácsony has insisted that the parade will go ahead, stating that Pride does not require a permit because it is a municipal event. Speaking yesterday at an International Human Rights Conference at Budapest's Central European University to mark the 30th anniversary of Budapest Pride, Mr Karácsony said tomorrow's parade "has one real source of law, one legal and moral basis, and this is called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." Budapest Pride is urging participants not to accept the fine given by police at the first attempt, and advised attendees that fines can be appealed at a later date. For its part, Hungary's government has signalled that it wants to avoid violent confrontations at the event. On Wednesday, the country's minister for transport János Lázár told Hungarian independent news outlet 444 that the law "does not have to be enforced at the cost of violence". Earlier this week, 33 embassies in Budapest, including the Embassy of Ireland, signed a joined statement in support of Budapest Pride and Hungary's LGBTIQ+ community. In response, Hungarian justice minister Bence Tuzson wrote a letter to EU ambassadors and their staff at embassies in Budapest not to attend the event. In the letter, seen by AFP, Mr Tuzson wrote that Pride was a "legally banned assembly". For much of the past decade, Fidesz has clashed with the EU over its opposition to migrant relocation quotas, the independence of the Hungarian judiciary and media freedoms in a country where the media market is dominated by pro-government outlets. Hungary has also opposed the consensus view in the EU to support Ukraine's bid to join the bloc, using its veto to delay funding packages for Kyiv while maintaining close political and economies ties with Moscow. On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen released a video on X, calling on Hungarian authorities to allow Pride to go ahead, much to the ire of Mr Orbán, no stranger to clashes with the EU. "Dear Madam President, I urge the European Commission to refrain from interfering in the law enforcement affairs of Member States, where it has no role to play," wrote Mr Orbán in response. The standoff over Pride comes at a time when Fidesz is facing the toughest challenge yet during its 15 years in government. A poll by Hungarian pollster Medián last week put the centre-right opposition party Tisza, led by former Fidesz ally Péter Magyar, between 10 and 15 percentage points ahead of Fidesz. Mr Magyar has so far stayed away from commenting on the Pride ban, perhaps conscious that supporting the LGBTQ+ movement could reduce his chances of gaining the support of more conservative voters ahead of next year's pivotal parliamentary election. RTÉ News contacted the Hungarian government's international communication office with questions regarding the decision to ban this year's parade. In response, the office emailed a post on X from earlier this week by Zoltan Kovacs, Hungary's Secretary of State for International Communication, which read: "This year's @budapestpride is being organized in violation of Hungarian law—despite a binding decision by the Curia, Hungary's supreme court, which banned the march citing child protection concerns." "As always, we remain committed to protecting Hungarian children from LGBTQ propaganda." However, there is evidence that the views of a majority of Hungarians towards LGBTQ+ issues are more liberal. A study conducted by the Háttér Society in November 2023 found than 72% of Hungarians agree that same-sex couples can be good parents. It also found that 73% of those polled would allow transgender people to change their gender and name on their official documents. Whether tomorrow's banned parade becomes a defining moment in Hungarian politics will only become clear in the months ahead. Its impact may just be limited to liberal Budapest and other cities. But Fidesz's move to ban Pride has already turned the event into a mass protest about freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, and that in itself will be hard for the ruling party to shrug off entirely. "Saturday will be a historic event," said Mr Kanicsár. "It will be a really big act of democracy."
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
‘None of us are free until everyone is free': Tens of thousands attend Budapest Pride in defiance of ban
Tens of thousands of protesters marched through Hungary's capital on Saturday as a banned LGBTQ+ rights rally swelled into a mass demonstration against the government. Crowds filled a square near Budapest's city hall before setting off across the city, some waving rainbow flags, others carrying signs mocking prime minister Viktor Orban . 'This is about much more, not just about homosexuality .... This is the last moment to stand up for our rights,' said Eszter Rein Bodi, one of the marchers. 'None of us are free until everyone is free,' one sign read. READ MORE Small groups of far-right counter-protesters attempted to disrupt the parade, but police kept them away and diverted the route of the march to avoid any clashes. Participants march in the Budapest Pride parade on Saturday. Photograph:Mr Orban's nationalist government has gradually curtailed the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in the past decade, and its members of parliament passed a law in March that allows for the ban of Pride marches, citing the need to protect children. Opponents see the move as part of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms ahead of a national election next year when Mr Orban will face a strong opposition challenger. Organisers said participants arrived from 30 different countries, with 70 members of the European Parliament, including from Ireland, joining the parade. More than 30 embassies have expressed support for the march and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called on Hungarian authorities to let it go ahead. Seventy Hungarian civil society groups, including the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Transparency International Hungary and the Hungarian Helsinki Commission, published an open letter on Friday in support of the march, saying the law that led to the police ban 'serves to intimidate the entire society'. 'The right to assembly is a basic human right, and I don't think it should be banned. Just because someone does not like the reason why you go to the street, or they do not agree with it, you still have the right to do so,' said Krisztina Aranyi, another marcher. Budapest's municipality organised the Pride march in a move to circumvent a law that allows police to ban LGBTQ+ marches. Photograph: Peter Kohalmi/AFP via Getty Images Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony tried to circumvent the law by organising the march as a municipal event, which he said does not need a permit. Police, however, banned the event, arguing that it fell under the scope of the child protection law. Mr Orban, whose government promotes a Christian-conservative agenda, provided some clues on Friday about what participants can expect when he warned of 'legal consequences' for organising and attending the march. Earlier this week his justice minister Bence Tuzson warned in a letter sent to some foreign embassies in Budapest that organising a prohibited event is punishable by one year in jail, while attending counts as a misdemeanour. The law that allows for the ban of Pride lets police impose fines and use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend. When asked about the threat of a one-year jail term, Mr Karacsony said at a press briefing on Friday that such a sentence would only boost his popularity. 'But I cannot take it seriously,' he said. Making the march a key topic of political discourse has allowed the Orban government to take the initiative back from the opposition and mobilise its voter base, said Zoltan Novak, an analyst at the Centre for Fair Political Analysis. Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban. Photograph: John Thys/AFP via Getty Images 'In the past 15 years, Fidesz decided what topics dominated the political world,' he said, noting that this has become more difficult as Mr Orban's party has faced an increasing challenge from centre-right opposition leader Peter Magyar's Tisza party, which had a 15-point lead over Fidesz in a recent poll. Tisza, which has been avoiding taking a strong position on gay rights issues, did not specify in response to questions whether it believed the Pride march was lawful, but said those attending deserved the state's protection. 'Peter Magyar has called on the Hungarian authorities and police to protect the Hungarian people this Saturday, and on other days as well, even if it means standing up against the arbitrariness of power,' its press office said. Mr Magyar himself did not attend. - Reuters
