Rule of Law McGrath Hits Back at Orb¡n Budapest Pride Claims

Budapest: European Commissioner Michael McGrath brushed off accusations that the EU intentionally got involved with Budapest’s Pride celebrations. Amid an ongoing dispute with Hungary over the rule of law, he also said that Brussels is examining new ways to enforce the conditionality mechanism linked to EU funds.

According to Ansa News Agency, EU Rule of Law Commissioner Michael McGrath dismissed claims by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb¡n accusing Brussels of orchestrating last Saturday’s Pride celebrations in Budapest. “There was no orchestration from the European Union, for sure,” McGrath told the European Newsroom (enr) in an interview in Brussels on Tuesday. He praised “the symbolism of hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of Budapest upholding the right to gather peacefully” and underlined the European Union’s core value of equality, stressing it “is a founding value of the European Union.”

Defying a police ban issued under Orb¡n’s orders, a record number of people marched through central Budapest on Saturday in support of LGBTIQ+ rights. Organisers of the 30th Budapest Pride parade said 200,000 people joined the demonstration, while media reports cited at least 100,000 participants. Budapest’s liberal mayor Gergely Kar¡csony opposed the ban from the outset and declared the Pride an official municipal event in an attempt to bypass the restrictions.

When asked if the European Commission expects progress on the Article 7 procedure against Hungary for its ongoing violations of the rule of law within the European Union, McGrath referred to the EU treaties that grant jurisdiction over the matter to the bloc’s member states rather than the EU executive. McGrath mentioned that the Commission is currently examining the architecture of the rule of law conditionality mechanism as part of the next EU multi-annual budget (MFF).

The rule of law was enshrined in the Treaty of Amsterdam (1999), Article 7 of which stipulates that a member state’s rights can be suspended if it breaches the EU’s values under Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union. Article 7(1) has been triggered only twice in EU history: against Poland in 2017 and against Hungary in 2018. McGrath emphasized the need for a more agile and responsive instrument to ensure compliance with EU values.

Citing the European Commission’s political guidelines and a roadmap to the next MFF, McGrath stated that “not a single Euro will be available to countries where rule of law is not being respected.” The European Commission is expected to present its proposal for the 2028-2034 budget on July 16.