Child protection or censorship? The legal battle between the Court of Justice of the EU and Hungary
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has repeatedly said that 'only parents can decide about the sexual education of their children.' Two years after its approval, books with LGBTQ references were removed from bookstores or can only be displayed wrapped in plastic. The European Commission launched an infringement procedure in 2022. 16 EU countries and the European Parliament helped bring the case to the Court of Justice of the EU.
Critics claim that the law adds to the homo and transphobic legal fabric built by Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz Party after more than a decade in power. Previous laws adopted in 2020 had banned same-sex couples from adopting children and eliminated legal recognition of transgender people.
The Hungarian LGBTQ community says they feel singled out and openly talk about the fear the law causes them.
The sculptor Gideon Horváth lives and works in Budapest. He mainly uses ceramics and beeswax to evoke the ambivalent duality of human nature, in a plastic exploration of queer identities. One of his works was a victim of the controversial law, he says. It was exhibited for the first time in an open-air cultural space. But when it was later exhibited in a national museum, the official catalog and description removed all mention of its queer artistic significance.
'I had no choice but to accept this censorship because otherwise they would not have allowed me to exhibit,' explains the artist. 'And you have to choose your battles wisely. Censorship works in such a way that it is almost never a high authority that comes and says that you can't do that. It is mainly cultural workers and artists who self-censor.'
Four government offices, the ruling Fidesz party and a pro-government civil association rejected our interview requests.
In its legal fight against the law, the European Commission cited violations of Article 2 of the Treaty of the Union and its principles on values of human dignity, fundamental rights, protection, equality and solidarity. This approach is a clear sign of the significance of the case and its final ruling, says Eszter Polgári, an expert in European Human Rights jurisprudence. 'The law violates our right to freedom of expression. It is also a kind of violation of freedom of association. Probably the most important (violation) from a human perspective is the right of children to have access to objective, scientifically proven and correct information. Because now they are deprived of the possibility of receiving information in an organized environment, for example, in schools. And they will depend on the Internet, which is not the most reliable source of information when it comes to sexuality and sexual orientation and gender identity,' explains the lawyer.
The European Commission has recommended that EU funds for Hungary remain frozen due to violations of rule of law principles. The final ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union is not expected for months.
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Two of them will be based on the bloc's climate policies: the Emissions Trading System (ETS), the market where companies buy and sell credits to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions, and the Carbon Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which will put an extra price on carbon-intensive imports coming into EU territory. Moreover, von der Leyen envisages three new taxes on electronic waste (e-waste), tobacco products and companies with an annual turnover above €100 million. Altogether, the Commission estimates the old and new own resources will bring in €58.5 billion per year. This amount will be enough to cover the €24 billion in annual repayments of the COVID-era debt and contribute to other envelopes. "The goal is simple: we have to repay our shared recovery borrowing (and) must meet our modern priorities," von der Leyen said. However, the €58.5 billion is idealistic, as it takes for granted that all five measures, including the new taxes, will be swiftly endorsed by member states. 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