The European Commission Friday announced that it will sue Hungary in the EU’s Court of Justice over an anti-LGBT Hungarian law and Hungary’s refusal to allow a dissident radio station to broadcast. European Commission to sue Hungary for anti-LGBT discrimination and radio censorship.

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Hungary adopted a law in June 2021 that prevents companies from featuring LGBTQ couples in educational or advertising content intended for children. The legislation was swiftly condemned by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who later initiated infringement proceedings against Hungary last July. Infringement proceedings result in a referral to the EU Court of Justice if countries are not complying with EU law or Commission requests.

Hungary is being sued on the basis of violating the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive, e-Commerce Directive and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, among other things. The Commission says that Hungary violates many of these directives due to its regulations being discriminatory and unjustified.

This dispute between the European Commission and Hungary is indicative of growing tension in the EU where states such as Hungary and Poland have come under fire for the passage of anti-LGBT legislation.

The European Commission took Hungary to court on Friday to contest a Hungarian law banning the provision of LGBTQ content to minors. Hungary's so-called "anti-paedophilia" law which, among other things, bans the "promotion" of homosexuality and gender reassignment to under-18s, came into effect last year, despite warnings from Brussels and EU leaders.

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"The Commission considers that the law violates the internal market rules, the fundamental rights of individuals (in particular LGBTQ people) as well as . . . EU values," a statement said.

The EU Court of Justice can impose fines and financial penalties for non-compliance with its decisions.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen described the legislation as a "disgrace" and the EU executive launched the procedure in July 2021.

Hungary's nationalist and conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban claims that the law is not homophobic and is simply intended to "protect the rights of children".

The Commission is also suing Hungary over the national regulator's decision to take independent radio station Klubradio off the air. This was seen as a further blow to media pluralism in the country.

"In the EU, the world's leading democracy, no free radio station should be taken off the air for non-objective reasons on the basis of a discriminatory administrative procedure," said EU commissioner Thierry Breton.

Hungary was again singled out in the Commission's latest report on the rule of law in the EU, presented on Wednesday.

Brussels has also triggered a procedure that could lead to the suspension of European funds to the country, because of failures by Budapest to fight corruption.

Hungary is to hold a referendum on legislation that limits the teaching of homosexuality in schools. The EU has begun legal action against the law, which it says violates its rules.

The referendum is intended to gauge domestic support for the measure, which came into force this month. It bans the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality and gender reassignment to minors.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office said the poll should be held either later this year, or early in 2022.

While the government says the so-called "anti-pedophilia" law protects children, opponents say it stigmatises LGBT people by conflating pedophilia with homosexuality.

Orban said the referendum would ask voters five questions. They include whether whether schools should be allowed to talk about sexuality to children without the consent of parents, and whether children should be exposed to unrestricted harmful sexual content.

He urged voters to answer "no" to the questions.

Referendum as diversion
Several opposition parties called for a boycott of the referendum. President of the right-wing Jobbik party, Peter Jakab, said the proposal was a “clear diversion” from spying allegations.

A consortium of international journalists has found that the Israeli Pegasus spyware was used to hack smartphones belonging to journalists, human rights activists and government officials around the world.

Hungary allegedly used the software to access the smartphones of journalists, politicians and business figures.

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