Sovereignty Under Siege: Hungary Faces Mounting Pressure Over Pride Ban

When will the Europeans learn that in the EU, "national sovereignty" is meaningless? The "countries" are just provinces of the EU Leviathan.

From The European Conservative

By Javier Villamor

The defense of narrowly interpreted “European values” becomes a tool to constrain the sovereignty of member states choosing alternative legislative paths.

Several EU member states have once again placed Hungary at the center of the European political debate. Seventeen countries—including Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the Nordic nations—have formally urged the European Commission to take “immediate action” against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government for banning LGBT events in public spaces.

In a letter coordinated by the Dutch ministry of foreign affairs, the signatories of the statement called on Brussels to deploy the full “rule of law toolkit” to compel Budapest to reverse the measure. Among the possible responses is activating Article 7 of the EU Treaty, which could lead to suspending Hungary’s voting rights in the European Council. 

Threatening to push the red button is nothing new. The nuclear option of Article 7 has been put on the table over the years simply to force a European nation into line, blatantly trampling on its national sovereignty. “The democratically elected Hungarian Government has every right to uphold the nation’s moral norms, regardless [of] whether or not they are antithetical to those of the Brussels oligarchy,” said John O’Brien, head of communications at the conservative think tank MCC Brussels. 

The Hungarian legislation, passed in March, prohibits public events that promote gender ideology or content related to homosexuality in the presence of minors. The government defends the law as a child protection measure and a reinforcement of parental rights, allowing authorities to sanction event organizers and attendees through facial recognition systems.

These measures build on earlier legal reforms, including the 2020 ban on legal gender changes and the 2021 restriction on LGBT content in educational settings. The European Commission has already referred these laws to the European Court of Justice, although no definitive ruling has been issued. 

The campaign against Hungary unfolds in parallel with renewed efforts to reform the EU treaties, which are led by many of the same countries now denouncing Orbán. Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg are strong proponents of abolishing the unanimity rule in foreign policy, justice, and taxation. This would strip smaller or dissenting states of their veto rights and transfer key competences to Brussels. The justification cited is that the EU is expanding and thus requires stronger centralized coordination.

Within this framework, the ideological pressure on Budapest does not appear isolated but rather as part of a broader strategy of political homogenization. The defense of “European values,” narrowly interpreted by EU institutions, becomes a tool to constrain the sovereignty of member states choosing alternative legislative paths.

Brussels’ discontent with Hungary is not limited to LGBT rights, but also includes Hungary’s blockade of aid to Ukraine and Orbán’s refusal to align with the majority on strategic matters.

The issue will be discussed at the upcoming General Affairs Council meeting, where precautionary measures and the possible reactivation of Article 7 will be discussed. According to diplomatic sources, 19 countries currently support moving forward, though three more are needed to reach the majority required in the first stage. Complete unanimity would still be necessary to suspend voting rights, which would be hard to push through.

The European Commission has not yet commented on what specific actions it will take, and some commissioners, such as Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib, have expressed legal doubts about proceeding at this time. Even Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has shown some caution.