Brussels drags Hungarian PM Orban to European Court of Justice over LGBT rights

Brussels: The European Union dragged Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over a restrictive law on LGBT issues and media freedom.

"The Commission is...referring Hungary to the Court for (i) discrimination of LGBTIQ people and (ii) for restricting media freedom and the rights of Klubradio to use radio spectrum," the European Commission said on July 15.

This comes after a statement was released by the commission on July 15 as part of its regular package of decisions that endanger rights or fundamental freedoms.

As per the reports by Radio Free Europe, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been battling Brussels on a wide range of issues from sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, to enlargement and other EU internal issues.

The LGBT issue has been a particular source of the constant tiff between Brussels and Budapest because Orban's government passed legal changes in June 2021 which stigmatized sexual minorities and stifle discourse on sexual orientation.

However, Orban constantly denied accusations of discrimination and said the legislation allows parental control of what kind of sex education children receive during their tender years at school.

Moreover, the European Commission also accused Orban of using his supermajority for more than a decade to exclude independent media as he took the support of his friendly media allies in the country under a nonprofit umbrella his party established several years back, report by Radio Free Europe stated.

"Finally, to protect the fundamental principles of free movement, which are the cornerstone of the EU's single market, the Commission is launching an infringement procedure against Hungary for having introduced discriminatory fuel prices for vehicles with a foreign number plate," the European Commission said in a statement on July 15. (ANI)