Latest news with #GergelyKarácsony
The Guardian
19 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Mayor will ‘come up with plan C' if police try to impose ban on Budapest Pride
The mayor of Budapest has vowed to go ahead with the city's Pride march next weekend, declaring he will 'come up with a plan C' even if the police try to impose a government-backed ban. Hungarian police said on Thursday they were banning the country's main Pride march from taking place in the capital, citing recent legislation passed by Viktor Orbán's government that prohibits the promotion of same-sex relationships to under-18s. 'The police, acting within their authority over public assemblies, prohibit the holding of the assembly at the aforementioned location and time,' the police said. But Gergely Karácsony, the liberal mayor, said the gathering would go ahead regardless, saying the police decision had 'no value' because the march did not require official authorisation as it was a municipal event organised by the city council. 'Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march on 28 June as a city event. Period,' he wrote on Facebook. The mayor, who was re-elected to the position last summer, is among the harshest critics of the rightwing government's politics. He has hung an LGBTQ+ and a Ukrainian flag on the administration building in central Budapest, in defiance of Orbán's Fidesz party's rhetoric. In an interview with the Guardian this week, before the police statement, Karácsony said he was determined the event would go ahead. 'There is currently no law that could ban [a municipal event],' he said. 'Obviously, anything can happen in Hungary. But we will come up with a Plan C.' Dozens of MEPs have said they will attend a Pride event in the city in defiance of the government, as well as politicians including the Spanish culture minister, Ernest Urtasun; Ireland's former taoiseach, Leo Varadkar; and the mayors of Amsterdam and Brussels. Karácsony, who won a seat in the Hungarian parliament as a member of a new green party in 2010, the same year Orbán came to power, said he also expected the police to help guarantee the safety of the event. 'I believe that everyone can attend safely on 28 June,' he said. Since Orbán returned to power, Hungary has passed a series of laws which have been criticised at home and across the EU for curtailing the rights of the country's sexual and gender minorities in the name of 'child protection'. The bill passed in March by the Fidesz-majority parliament was only the latest but perhaps starkest example, seen by many as a direct attack on Budapest Pride, which has been held in the city for nearly three decades. Karácsony, who was elected mayor of the capital in 2019 and was re-elected in 2024 by just a few hundred votes, insists his drive to ensure the march lives on is not about currying favour with voters. 'A good politician has a strong moral compass,' he said. 'But I know that most Budapest residents agree with me.' At a time when the Hungarian LGBTQ+ community feels increasingly embattled, Karácsony has openly supported LGBTQ+ rights. He was among the speakers at Budapest Pride in 2021, after the government passed a law banning the 'display or promotion of homosexuality' to under-18s. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion The mayor's support of liberal views has earned him the ire of the increasingly authoritarian populist government, which has portrayed him variously as an agent for a previous socialist prime minister, for the US billionaire George Soros, the Biden administration and the EU. Karácsony was one of the strongest candidates to stand against Orbán in the last general election in 2022. In the end, the six-party joint opposition chose another city mayor, Péter Márki-Zay, to run for PM. Fidesz retained a two-thirds majority in parliament, and Orbán was elected for a fourth consecutive term. Karácsony told the Guardian he would not run in the 2026 general election, where Orbán is expected to face his strongest opponent to date, Péter Magyar. Magyar, a conservative politician, has not endorsed Pride, but spoken up for the right of people to assemble. 'We use power to encourage or support those who need it,' said Karácsony, a sociologist by trade. Quite what will happen on 28 June is unclear. Orbán's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, told a briefing on Wednesday that no matter what the mayor said, a Pride gathering would fall under the legislation that governs the right to assemble. In their statement police said any appeal against the ban must be lodged with the Hungarian supreme court within three days. The march, they said, 'by its very nature cannot be held without the representation' of people belonging to the LGBTQ+ community and that under-18s could be present along the route. 'If it cannot be stated with absolute certainty that the display is not taking place in the presence of persons under 18 years of age, the assembly would be in breach of the ban,' the police said.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Dozens of MEPs to attend Budapest Pride in defiance of Viktor Orbán
Dozens of MEPs are expected to attend the Pride march in Budapest later this month, in defiance of the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who has tried to ban the event. In a debate in the European parliament in Strasbourg, MEPs from liberal, left and green groups pledged to be in Budapest on 28 June for the parade to show solidarity with gay Hungarians. The pledges came after the city's mayor said the event would go ahead, circumventing a law that allows police to ban LGBTQ+ marches. Gergely Karácsony said on Monday that the march would be a municipal event – and a celebration of freedom – so 'no permits from authorities are needed'. 'In this city, there are no first- or second-class citizens … neither freedom, nor love can be banned, and the Budapest Pride cannot be banned either,' Karácsony said. Iratxe García Pérez, the Spanish leader of the Socialist group in the European parliament, addressed gay people in Hungary directly during the debate on Wednesday: 'We see you, we hear you and on 28 June we will march with you in Budapest, side by side, proud and loud.' Tineke Strik, a Dutch Green MEP, who recently led a delegation of lawmakers to Hungary, said she and 70 European deputies would be in Budapest. 'Me and 70 colleagues will do what the commission won't. We will come to the Pride. We will show the Hungarians that they are not alone.' Amsterdam's mayor Femke Halsema and a junior Dutch minister have also said they will attend the event, according to local media. The European commissioner for democracy and justice, Irish politician Michael McGrath, who took part in the debate, did not respond to repeated requests to join the event in Budapest. McGrath confirmed the commission was examining the Hungarian law that outlaws Pride marches over its compatibility with EU law and provisions on fundamental rights. 'The European commission is ready to use all its tools to ensure that EU law is upheld right across our union,' he said. The commission is already taking legal action against Hungary over a 2021 law that bans LGBTQ+ content from schools and primetime TV, meaning pupils wondering about their sexuality cannot access help, while shows or adverts reflecting themes of tolerance may be impossible to air during peak viewing hours. Sign up to Headlines Europe A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day after newsletter promotion In a significant step, a senior legal scholar – known as an advocate general – at the European court of justice sided with the commission, finding that the Hungarian law banning LGBTQ+ content was based on 'prejudice that homosexual and non-cisgender [transgender] life is not of equal value'. The court follows the advocate general's opinion in most cases. Kinga Gál, a member of Orbán's Fidesz party and vice-president of the far-right Patriots for Europe group, said the debate was 'nothing new' and 'perfectly fits into the witch hunts and hysteria we have experienced for several years about Hungary'. In the right-leaning parliament, Hungary found vocal support in far-right and nationalist MEPs from France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Christine Anderson of the Alternative for Deutschland party, said: 'Where you see scandal, I see reason, common sense and decency,' while accusing the commission of running an 'inquisition'. MEPs from the centre-right were muted in support of gay rights, focusing on concerns over freedom of assembly and democratic standards. 'Opposition is rising in Hungary and Orbán is clearly afraid,' Tomas Tobé, a Swedish member of the European People's party, said. 'They are doing everything they can to limit freedom of speech, restrict freedom of assembly and prevent people from determining their own future.' The EPP is allied to Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz insider who is widely seen to present the most serious electoral challenge to Orbán since his return to power in 2010.
Budapest Times
28-03-2025
- Politics
- Budapest Times
Pride proposals without majority in Budapest city council
At its meeting on Wednesday, the Budapest Parliament did not put the proposals related to the Pride parade and the protection of the right of assembly on the agenda. The Satirical Party of the Two-Tailed Dog (MKKP) and the left-wing Párbeszéd had submitted corresponding proposals, but did not receive the necessary majority to put them on the agenda. Fidesz-KDNP, DK, MKKP and Párbeszéd supported this, Mayor Gergely Karácsony abstained, the 14 MPs from MSZP, Podmaniczky Movement and Tisza Party did not vote. Are we facing a Russian scenario? Krisztina Baranyi, mayor of Ferencváros and member of the Budapest MKKP parliamentary group, emphasised that the toughest action should be taken against the ban on Pride. Freedom of the press and the war in Ukraine are not communication traps, but the defining political conflicts of our time. 'Our task is not to avoid these debates, but to lead them.' Pride has been banned in Moscow for 19 years, and the last parts of the free Russian press and NGOs were dismantled three years ago at the start of the war against Ukraine – is this also a scenario for Hungary? Fidesz attacks fundamental freedoms Párbeszéd parliamentary group leader Richárd Barabás pointed out that the citizens of Budapest are in favour of Pride, which is why they demonstrated on Tuesday. In his opinion, 'what is happening in Hungary today is no longer simply about the LGBTQ community or Pride, the governing parties are threatening fundamental freedoms'. According to Dávid Molnár (Tisza), the purpose of the amendment to the Basic Law is to build a surveillance state, everything else is just a provocation to divide citizens. His party does not support the debate on the proposals, because that is exactly what Fidesz wants, just to avoid having to talk about what is actually happening in the country, namely that the end of their power could be near in a few months. Pride – a mockery of the family Gergely Kristóf Gulyás (Fidesz-KDNP) described Pride as a political movement 'which is about mocking the family and exerting ideological pressure, which the left is trying to package as a political spectacle'. He sees the amendment to the Basic Law as forward-looking, as the protection of children is a national concern and stands above all else.
