The European Commission has stopped short of endorsing the Hungarian government’s proposed rewrite of Viktor Orbán’s 2021 Child Protection Act, saying Budapest must still put forward the measures necessary to comply with April’s landmark Court of Justice ruling.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s government submitted a bill on Monday, registered as T/680, stripping LGBT-specific language from central child protection, media, advertising and education rules and replacing it with a framework centred on pornography, sexual exploitation, grooming, and age-inappropriate sexual material.
The proposal, if approved, would mark a clear break from years of restrictive policy towards LGBT minorities in Hungary. At the same time, the government is also preparing to ease rules on adoption by same-sex couples.
‘Hungary must put forward the necessary measures to comply with the ruling’
The legislation is also tied directly to Hungary’s remaining frozen EU funds. Brussels has withheld cohesion payments because it considers the Orbán-era Child Protection Act incompatible with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights; around €600 million remains blocked specifically over those LGBT-related concerns. Magyar said earlier this week that changing the law could free roughly €500 million for education.
When asked by Hungarian Conservative whether adopting and implementing the proposal would be sufficient—or materially contribute—to satisfying these conditions, the Commission offered no endorsement.
‘We do not comment on draft laws,’ a Commission spokesperson said. ‘We are aware of the latest legislative proposal related to the protection of children tabled in the Hungarian Parliament. We are monitoring the situation closely and in contact with the Hungarian government.’
Instead, Brussels pointed back to the Court of Justice’s 21 April judgment, which found that the 2021 law breached internal market rules, several fundamental rights and, for the first time in an infringement action against a member state, Article 2 TEU. ‘Hungary must put forward the necessary measures to comply with the ruling,’ the spokesperson stressed.
The cautious response leaves the central question surrounding the proposal unresolved: whether the government’s rollback of the provisions targeted by the court will be enough for Brussels to consider Hungary compliant and release the remaining funds.
Meanwhile, pressure on the government is also building at home. Amnesty International Hungary, Háttér Society, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, and the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union jointly welcomed the proposal as an important step but called it incomplete. They said similar restrictions remain in the Family Protection Act and also demanded changes to the Fundamental Law and legislation used to restrict Pride marches.
‘The cautious response leaves the central question surrounding the proposal unresolved’
Human Rights Watch echoed the criticism on Wednesday, praising the removal of several Orbán-era restrictions while arguing that the government had not yet dismantled the wider legal framework affecting LGBT rights.
The proposal also received harsh criticism from the right-wing opposition, although for a different reason. KDNP parliamentary group leader Bence Rétvári said his party would not support adoption by same-sex couples, arguing that children need both a mother and a father. He also linked the dispute to EU funding, accusing Brussels of using frozen money to press progressive ideological demands.
Hard-right Our Homeland leader László Toroczkai said his party could support the government’s broader child protection measures but likewise rejected same-sex adoption.
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