Statement by the EESC FRRL Group on the charges faced by the Budapest Mayor

Making it a crime to allow Pride events is a direct violation of EU values

The EESC FRRL Group has learned that the Budapest Mayor, Gergely Karácsony, is facing charges by the Prosecutor's Office for having allowed the 30^th annual Budapest Pride to take place on 28 June 2025, despite a police ban following the Hungarian 'anti-LGBT propaganda law'.

According to the available information,[1] Mayor Karácsony had announced that the march would take place as a municipal event, which arguably did not require police approval. The march gathered around 100 000 people demonstrating peacefully.[2]

The EESC FRRL Group underlines that banning a peaceful march in support of LGBTIQ+ rights violates the commitments made by Hungary under International Human Rights Law as well as its obligations to uphold core European values as a member of the EU and the Council of Europe.

Criminally prosecuting a public official for complying with positive obligations to facilitate freedom of assembly under Article 11 ECHR (European Convention of Human Rights)[3] undermines legal certainty and the rule of law, and has a chilling effect on the protection of fundamental rights. The ban of a non-violent equality march also fails the strict Article 11(2) ECHR test of necessity and proportionality allowing for limited restrictions of assembly that are needed in a democratic society.

The EESC FRRL Group also notes that the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice found that Hungarian 'anti-LGBT propaganda law' – used as a basis for the Budapest Pride ban and the charges against Mr Karácsony – were incompatible with European and International human rights standards.[4]

In June 2025, just days before the Pride event, the FRRL Group led a visit to Hungary[5] during which it conveyed to the government the concerns it had heard during its visit, in particular the serious concerns among Hungarian civil society about the further deterioration of fundamental rights and the rule of law in the country, including hate campaigns against LGBTIQ+ people and restrictions on the right to assembly.

Background

The report on the 23-24 June 2025 EESC FRRL Group visit to Hungary indicates that "The 2025 Budapest Pride was banned. However, some homophobic counter-demonstrations were allowed. The courts had accepted the ban referencing the rights of children. Police fined protestors for petty offences such as traffic offences, and had increased the level of such fines lately causing a chilling effect. Participants also explained that the police was now resorting to facial recognition tools for petty offences, which facilitated identification of protestors, creating fear amongst them, and raising concerns with regard to the right to privacy and personal data."

"Participants said that the authorities were deliberately using propaganda against migrants, LGBTIQ+, the EU etc to create fear, and a narrative was being pushed that the population had to give up some rights in the name of protection."

"Lately in particular, LGBTIQ+ organisations had been heavily targeted according to the participants, and they risked being blacklisted if the new ‘transparency bill’ was adopted. Participants described a profound deterioration in protection since the last FRRL visit five years ago for persons with a different sexual orientation or gender identity, with the constitution now explicitly only recognising two genders. Act LXXIX of 2021 on stricter action against paedophile offenders and amending certain laws for the protection of children, the so-called ‘Propaganda Law’, had led to an EU infringement procedure. According to participants, discrimination had intensified, and LGBTIQ+ assemblies had been banned, including Budapest Pride planned days after the visit. CSOs were in legal battles against multiple bans."