Overview

• In March Hungary’s parliament amended its assembly law to bar events deemed to violate child protection rules, effectively outlawing Budapest Pride parades
• The new legislation allows authorities to levy fines of up to €500 on parade organizers and participants and deploy facial-recognition technology to identify them
• Twenty EU member states have issued a joint declaration urging the Commission to exhaust all legal mechanisms to reverse Hungary’s LGBTQ+ restrictions
• Justice Commissioner Michael McGrath has warned that the Commission is ready to invoke every available measure if Budapest does not repeal the parade ban law
• The EU has already frozen €18 billion in cohesion funds for Hungary and is preparing Article 7 proceedings that could strip the country of its voting rights