OPEN LETTER: The European Commission must act now to defend fundamental rights in Hungary

Commission must act now, with Budapest Pride just days away

With Budapest Pride just 5 days away, EDRi, and 46 organisations are calling on the European Commission to take immediate action to ensure that Pride organisers and participants can safely exercise their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.

We urge the Commission to act on Hungary’s recent amendment package and the underlying legislation which criminalise the organisers and participants of Pride marches. The measures, which went into effect on 15 April 2025, include harsh penalties such as excessive fines and, in some cases, imprisonment. The amendment package also authorises the use of real-time facial recognition to identify protesters, and for other infractions such as jaywalking, in glaring violation of the prohibition in the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act. This crackdown is already underway, with the ban having been applied to two previously notified LGBTQIA+ events.

The Commissions continued inaction in this situation must stop. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has expressed deep concern about these developments. The opinion of the advocate general of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) states major violations of EU law. Considering these concerns and the fact that civil society has previously urged the Commission to act, the lack of response and action is a cause for deep concern.

It is time to act now to safeguard fundamental rights, including by initiating an infringement procedure against the Hungarian government’s violations of the EU law. We urge for the following actions to be taken:

• The European Commission to open an infringement procedure against any new violations of EU law, in particular the violation of Article 5 of the AI Act
• The European Commission to adopt interim measures on ongoing infringement against Hungary’s 2021 anti LGTB law which is used as a legal basis for the ban on LGBTQIA+ related public assemblies, including Budapest Pride