The European Commission has opted for strategic silence in the face of the Hungarian government’s latest move in defense of the family. In response to legislation passed by the Budapest Parliament that restricts LGBT Pride marches in public spaces, Ursula von der Leyen’s team has asked its commissioners to keep a “low profile” and refrain from attending the parade scheduled for June 28th. The goal: not to “provoke” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
The 2021 Hungarian child protection law is currently under infringement proceedings—a formal procedure used to enforce EU law when a member state is believed to have failed to meet its obligations—before the European Court of Justice. This law recognizes identity based on biological sex and prohibits exposing minors to pornographic content, inappropriate sexuality, homosexuality, gender ideology, and sex changes.
The law was reinforced in March with new provisions allowing authorities to ban public events promoting homosexuality and gender transition, such as Pride parades, and to use facial recognition technology to identify organizers and participants. The law was coupled with the inclusion of a new passage in the constitution, which in itself explains why the government believes it was necessary to limit the freedom of assembly:
Every child has the right to the protection and care necessary for proper physical, mental, and moral development. This right, with the exception of the right to life, prevails over all other fundamental rights.
According to Miklós Szánthó, the Director General of the Hungarian think tank Center for Fundamental Rights, the primary goal of the legislation is to end the wave of “self-serving provocations” that has surrounded the Budapest Pride in recent years.
“Offensive, provocative, sexually explicit costumes, people in dog suits and latex pants, radical depictions of gender bias, not to mention religiously abusive and offensive content—all in the open street, in broad daylight, for all to see,” Szánthó explained why the majority population has a negative image of the Pride and supports the legislation.
“The solution to the problem is not ‘if you don’t want your child to see all this, don’t take them to Pride,’ as so many wise left-wing politicians have told us,” he added. “They know that this is no longer the case in a digitalized world, sexual propaganda finds its way to children as well.”
Despite pressure from liberal MEPs and LGBT groups, the Commission has so far ruled out applying provisional measures to suspend the implementation of the Hungarian law. According to internal sources, Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib acknowledged in a private meeting that she lacks the political support within the College of Commissioners and from von der Leyen’s cabinet to initiate legal action.
This is compounded by an explicit recommendation from the Commission president’s office that no commissioner should attend the event in Budapest, citing the need to avoid an open confrontation with the Hungarian executive. “We shouldn’t go provoking Orbán on his own turf,” said one of the sources familiar with the decision.
Brussels’ stance has sparked a strong reaction in the European Parliament, particularly from the liberal Renew Europe group. Its president, Valérie Hayer, has urged von der Leyen in a letter to request provisional measures from the ECJ to ensure the Pride march can take place, arguing that “when a government silences Pride, it silences freedom itself.”
Hayer and other MEPs, such as Katalin Cseh and Sophie Wilmès (both Renew), have condemned the Commission’s lack of consistency, accusing it of engaging in “pinkwashing”—symbolic support without concrete actions.
Von der Leyen’s team defends its approach as a way to avoid escalating the institutional conflict with Budapest. At a time when Parliament is preparing a new offensive based on Article 7 of the Treaty, which allows sanctions for breaches of ‘EU values,’ von der Leyen aims to keep open a line of communication with Orbán.
The Commission is concerned that Fidesz could exploit a high-profile visit to the march to feed its narrative of ‘out-of-touch European elites giving moral lectures.’ Given the delicate international context, von der Leyen is trying to balance her image as a defender of LGBT rights with diplomatic pragmatism toward less aligned governments.
