Hungary will maintain several policies that have drawn the ire of the European Union.
The EU maintains that the country’s policies regarding LGBTQ content and asylum seekers violate the rights of minority groups. The international coalition froze roughly $30 billion of funding intended for Hungary until the policies were revised or reversed.
But under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian government has resisted conceding to pressure from the EU.
Gergely Gulyas, Orbán’s chief of staff, told reporters on Jan. 18 that negotiating an agreement with the bloc had “limits” as the nation’s policies reflect the will of its citizens.
“The Hungarian government is willing to reach an agreement with the Commission, but in cases where people have expressed a clear opinion, it would be undemocratic and unacceptable,” Gulyas said, per AP News. “For Hungary, even despite the will of the European Commission, it is unacceptable to spread LGBTQ propaganda among children, and we also cannot abandon our position on migration issues.”
On the same day, the EU voted in favor of a non-binding resolution to withhold additional funds from Hungary until it complies with the bloc’s legislative demands.
One of the policies at the center of the conflict is a 2021 law that prohibits media display of homosexual content to minors. It extends to televisions, advertisements, films, and literature. The law irritated other countries during the European soccer finals in July of 2021, when rainbow advertisements were not permitted, and during the MTV European Music Awards in October of 2021, where the network opted to present an award to an activist who publicly denounced the policy.
The policy also bars teachers from discussing LGBTQ topics in school and any public depiction of alternative genders.
Additionally, the EU objects to Hungary’s refusal to admit asylum seekers who arrive at its borders. Hungary mandates that anyone seeking asylum begin the process at an embassy in Ukraine or Serbia.
Orbán has denounced the EU’s actions and remains committed to maintaining the policies.
“They can’t blackmail us financially in these questions,” the prime minister said during a radio interview on Jan. 19, per Bloomberg.
Orbán has previously said the balance of nations opposed to expanding EU federalism was altered when the United Kingdom left the bloc. He has also said that the EU’s demands were in opposition to Hungary’s “Christian heritage, carries out a replacement of its population via migration ... and conducts an LGBTQ offensive,” per Reuters.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been openly critical of Hungary for the last three years, with specific resentment about its LGBTQ media policy.
“It is a disgrace this legislation. … It is something that flies in the face of the values of the European Union,” Von der Leyen said in July of 2021 when the policy was scheduled to go into effect, per Euractiv. “If Hungary does not rectify the situation, the commission will use its powers available as the guardian of the treaties.”
The EU did unfreeze about $11 billion of Hungarian funding in December after the country completed some reforms designed to strengthen judicial independence.
