During the debate on the results of the 24-25 June European Council, MEPs discuss with Charles MICHEL, President of the Council and Ursula VON DER LEYEN, President of the European Commission, mainly on the Hungary’s recently-adopted law which prevents the depiction of LGBTIQ content in material intended for minors .

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

WEBER, Manfred (EPP, DE)

LAMBERTS, Philippe (Greens/EFA, BE)

GARCÍA PÉREZ, Iratxe (S&D, ES)

BAY, Nicolas (ECR, FR)

MICHEL, Charles (BE)

EU - Hungary (T)

CIOLOŞ, Dacian (Renew, RO)

VON DER LEYEN, Ursula (DE, EC)

European Council meeting 24-25 June 2021 (T)

Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 24-25 June 2021: extracts from the debate

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/3061712/I208802Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (English), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Recently,The legislation passed in Hungary has caused widespread concern, in particular amongst EU leaders. And this is why I decided to discuss the issue at the last of our last meeting. LGBTQI+ rights are not a marginal issue. They are a concrete example of how a society relates to diversity and how it relates to human dignity. It touches on a most intimate thoughts and beliefs, our fundamental liberties in the European Union. We do not discriminate. We integrate.

SOUNDBITE (English), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, For my part, I concluded with two remarks. First, our debate should encourage the Hungarian government to reflect on the values that bind us together as one European Union

SOUNDBITE (English), Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council, Second, EU law has primacy in our union. We have the tools and institutions to uphold our principles and our laws. The rule of law will run its course

SOUNDBITE (German), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, Heads of state and government had a very interesting and emotional debate about new legislation in Hungary, which says, inter alia, thats films, informations and publications may no longer be shown to children aged under 18. And it is claimed that this information would have a nefarious effect on the moral and physical development of minors, homosexuality is equated with pornography. This legislation is a legislation that uses the protection of children, which of course is a principle for all of us, is used as an excuse in order to discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. It is a disgrace this legislation

SOUNDBITE (French), Ursula VON DER LEYEN, If Hungary does not rectify the situation, the commission will use its powers available to the commission as the guardian of the treaties.

SOUNDBITE (German), Manfred WEBER (EPP, DE), EPP Group leader, And then finally, colleagues Hungary, Europe, Europe is a continent of freedom. We have a principle of freedom. And this legislation is a disgrace. As the president of the commission quite rightly said, the EPP today will support the joint resolution, which has been tabled before the House.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARC&#205;A P&#201;REZ (S&amp;D, ES), We need to take into account the fact that the solution is not showing Hungary the exit. We need to be clear about that. Hungary is not its government. Let's not forget that we have other instruments. Let's speed up the Article seven procedure and let's move forward with the suspension of payments for rule of law failings.

SOUNDBITE (French), Dacian CIOLO&#350; (Renew, RO), Renew Europe Group leader, Madam President, last week we, the members of the new Europe group, sent you a letter asking you to suspend the adoption of Victor Orban's recovery plan. In this letter, we explained to you that today we have no guarantees that the money from the European recovery fund will be of benefit to the Hungarian citizens who are honest and who deserve it.

SOUNDBITE (French), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Greens/EFA Group leader, What's actually happening is that an attack on the fundamental values of the union and rule of law have an objective, serve a purpose, namely to cement the power of one party and one individual, one man. And the objective here is to use that power to leverage that power in order to acquire wealth for the leader, for the government.

SOUNDBITE (French), Nicolas BAY (ID, FR), ID Group leader, I do have to mention the scandalous procedure against Hungary for the anti paedophilia law. The allegations of discrimination, homophobia are nothing but fake news. And you can see that if you take just a couple minutes to actually look at the real content of the law. Hungary is protecting his children from the frenzies of the gender and trans identity ideologies.