The Fidesz, the Hungarian Prime Minister’s party, the Ultranational Viktor Orbán, has proposed on Monday an amendment to the meetings law to prohibit the parade of LGTBI pride and fine the participants.
The deputies of the FIDESZ, who governs with an absolute majority since 2010, justify the amendment with the law of defense of minors, stating that “it will be guaranteed that in Hungary only meetings that respect the right of children can be held to the right of children to adequate physical, mental and moral development.” “It is forbidden to hold any meeting that violates the prohibition established in the law of defense of minors,” says the project, which adds that the organization and participation in these events will be an infraction subject to economic fine.
Hungarian ultraconservatives have frequently shielded themselves in childhood protection to justify their campaign against the rights of the LGTBI population, which, according to specialized organizations, has had a great impact, rooting negative stereotypes and discriminatory attitudes.
Orbán already advised last February to the organizers of the pride parade that “do not waste time in the preparation of the march.” The promoters of the event, who claim that he is familiar and does not imply any threat to children, responded by stating that freedom of meeting is a constitutional right. At the moment, they have not spoken about the new measure.
The amendment projects that the police use facial identification programs and impose fines on the participants. The amendment foresees that those who leave the march when they are warned by the police would not be fined.
The controversy called ‘Minor Defense Law’, approved in 2021, is considered homophobic by different NGOs for relating homosexuality to pedophilia. The legislation has been criticized by the European Union, to which Hungary belongs.
That standard prohibits talking about homosexuality in spaces and publications for minors and forces bookstores to sell in closed envelopes the books in the youth section that address that issue.
Since he came to power in 2010, the Orbán government has promoted an ultraconservative agenda and legally limited the rights of the LGTBIQ+community. The parliamentary majority of the Fidesz modified in 2011 the Constitution and set that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. The Government has also forbidden that same sex couples can adopt children.
The Fidesz presented a project of amendment to the Constitution last week to Parliament that affirms that “every child has the right to the protection and the necessary care for its proper physical, mental and moral development. This right will be a priority over all other fundamental rights, with the exception of the right to life. ”
In this way the amendment would make it possible to limit the right to free meeting. It will be discussed in Parliament in the coming weeks.
The pride parade in Hungary has been celebrated for 29 years and this summer will be the 30th edition, with which the month Pride concludes in Budapest and other cities of the country. Parallel to Orbán’s policies, the support of the parade continues to grow among the Hungarians and while in 2019 34% of respondents assured that it should be prohibited, for today that number was reduced to 27%.
Against citizens with dual nationality
Another constitutional amendment promoted by the FIDESZ seeks the temporary suspension of Hungarian citizenship for those who have another citizenship and who received foreign financing for an alleged activity against “national sovereignty.”
Orbán has generated consternation and criticisms in Hungary by describing his adversaries as “bedbugs” that must be “cleaned” of public life. “After today’s festive meeting, Easter cleaning comes, the bed bugs have winter,” Orbán said on a pronounced official speech on the occasion of the Hungarian National Festival of March 15, which recalls the Magaria Revolution of 1848 against the Royal House of Habsburg.
Orbán thus referred to his adversaries, whom he accuses of being financed from abroad, while threatened to “sweep, during the great cleaning of spring, to the servants of the empire,” in reference to the European Commission.
Before thousands of his supporters, the prime minister said that Parliament, where his party has a two -thirds majority, will approve in the coming weeks laws to dismantle the “financial machinery” from abroad that “has bought”, he says, to politicians, journalists, judges and civil society activists.
Orbán thinks of more severe laws to veto the media and NGOs that have benefited in the past of US help and from abroad in general, claiming that they are a danger to national sovereignty and an alleged interference.
The Prime Minister has advanced the possibility of more drastic measures against his political adversaries, which in specific cases could face the temporal suspension of Hungarian citizenship if they have another nationality and if they received foreign financing for an alleged activity against “national sovereignty.”
“Viktor Orbán has used today a shameless Nazi rhetoric to dehumanize the members of the Hungarian society who have different opinions to those of his,” said the deputy of the Green and Liberal Party Partesszéd, Tymea Szabó.
The independent press also criticized Orbán’s speech and stressed that it was the first time that the ultra -nationalist politician, known as very controversial, has dehumanized his adversaries. The Balint Ruff analyst said in the Independent Partizán portal that Orbán’s speech reminds “the worst historical traditions” of Hungary. “It is shameful that this can leave a person’s mouth in 2025,” said Ruff, remembering that the pronazis and communist regimes of Hungary also crossed out their adversaries.
Orbán lashed back against the European Union (EU), stating that the “Empire of Brussels” abuses its power and said that ultraconservative forces in the world are increasingly strong. The politician, considered a reference of the international populist ultra -right, said that “the patriots are the future”, since they have gained strength and won in elections such as in the US, Netherlands, Italy or Austria. In this regard, he said the time will come to reform the EU and claim the rights that Brussels supposedly have removed to its member countries.
In the midst of the controversy, the opposition leader, Péter Magyar, strongly criticized the Orbán regime, which he accused of corrupt, and promised to normalize Hungary relations with the EU in case of winning next year the general elections. “Hungary deserves something better, Hungary wants to live again. Spring arrived and we’ll end together with Orbán’s winter, ”said the leader of the Tisza party in a speech against tens of thousands of people in the center of Budapest.
According to the latest surveys, Magyar’s party has an intention to vote of 46%, compared to 37% of Fidesz, the party led by Orbán, who governs Hungary since 2010 with a two -thirds majority in Parliament. “They have made Hungary the poorest country in the EU, while he (Orbán) has become one of the richest on the continent,” said the opposition leader, a dissident of the Orbán regime. “After having sent it to the dump of history (to the Fidesz regime), we will work together to bring home the European funds,” Magyar promised in reference to community aids suspended by Brussels for the authoritarian drift of Hungary.
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