Sixty MEPs insist European Commission should be 'visibly present' at Budapest Pride

Sixty members of the European Parliament from across the political spectrum have written an open letter to President von der Leyen, expressing their “deep disappointment and concern” that, according to information published in the press, the office of the President of the EC has asked commissioners not to attend the upcoming Budapest Pride, MTI has reported.

Euractiv reported on Monday that, according to its sources, the President of the European Commission had explicitly asked the commissioners not to take part in the Budapest procession. As one of the paper's sources put it, they should not “provoke Viktor Orbán on his home turf”. They do not want the Hungarian government to twist this and say, “Here we go again, the alienated Brussels elite is coming to lecture us on morality.”

The European Commission responded to the information on Tuesday, saying that “The allegations that the President of the European Commission or her team asked the members of the Commission not to participate in Budapest Pride are false,” a spokesperson for the Commission said.

MEPs also published a letter addressed to Ursula von der Leyen on Euroactiv. In it, they wrote:

"For years now, the Hungarian government has been initiating an anti-LGBTIQ+ campaign, now culminating in a ban on the Budapest Pride. A ban that violates EU law and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. These actions undermine the rule of law and fundamental rights, not only in Hungary, but also in Europe as a whole."

The authors of the letter called on the European Commission to take a firm stance because, in their opinion, if the news is true, then the European Commission is failing to fulfill its duties. According to the representatives, the EU must not remain silent in the face of rights violations and must not back down out of fear of conflict with the Hungarian government. They also asked the European Commission to ensure that it is visibly present at Budapest Pride because "Now, more than ever, the LGBTIQ+ community, civil society, human right defenders and all those who believe in freedom and dignity for all need to see that the European Union is truly their ally, not just in words, but in action."