Latest news with #TamaraĆapeta
The Journal
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Hungary's infamous ban on LGBTQ+ content deemed to be violation of EU law
A HUNGARIAN LAW that harshly restricts access to LGBTQ-related content is a violation of European Union law, according to the Advocate General of the EU's Court of Justice. By banning content about LGBTQ+ sexualities and gender identities from being available to under-18s, Hungary is infringing on the treaty that sets out the EU's fundamental principles, the Advocate General's formal legal opinion stated. The Treaty of the European Union outlines that the EU is 'founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities'. By calling into question the equality of LGBTQ+ people, Hungary has 'negated' several of the EU's fundamental values, Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta said. It has also 'significantly deviated from the model of a constitutional democracy'. In 2021, Hungary's parliament passed a bill that effectively banned communicating with children and teenagers about sexual orientations and gender identities . The impacts affected education programmes, meaning students could not be educated about LGBTQ+ identities, and media like books and movies, including movies that depict LGBTQ+ being classified as 18+. The European Commission brought an infringement action before the Court of Justice against Hungary over the law and Ćapeta has now set out her legal opinion that the Court rule the action is well-founded. She said the legislation infringed on the freedom enshrined in EU law to provide and receive services. Advertisement It also interferes with fundamental rights protected by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, namely the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex and sexual orientation; respect for private and family life; freedom of expression and information; and the right to human dignity. Capéta said these interferences cannot be justified by the reasons put forward by Hungary, which tried to argue for the law on the basis of protection of the 'healthy development of minors' and the 'right of parents to raise their children according to their personal convictions'. The Advocate General said the Hungarian legislation is not limited to shielding minors from pornographic content, which was already prohibited by the law in Hungary prior to the 2021 legislation, and goes as far as prohibiting the portrayal of ordinary lives of LGBTQ+ people. She said that Hungary has not offered any proof of a potential risk of harm of content that portrays ordinary lives of LGBTQ+ people to the healthy development of minors and that consequently, its legislation is 'based on a value judgment that homosexual and non-cisgender life is not of equal value or status as heterosexual and cisgender life'. The EU legal system recognises that there can be different visions among member states about how common values should be implemented in practice, and that disagreements about fundamental rights should not result in a finding of an infringement of the Treaty of the European Union. However, Hungary's actions in this case are not a matter of a 'disagreement', Capéta said. She said that LGBTQ+ people being deserving of equal respect in member states is 'not open to contestation through dialogue'. She said: Disrespect and marginalisation of a group in a society are the 'red lines' imposed by the values of equality, human dignity and respect for human rights. As such, 'by calling into question the equality of LGBTI persons, Hungary is not demonstrating a disagreement or a divergence about the content of the values of the European Union'. 'Instead, that Member State has negated several of those fundamental values and, thus, has significantly deviated from the model of a constitutional democracy, reflected in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union.' An Advocate General's opinion is not binding on the Court of Justice but gives the Court a proposed legal solution to cases it is responsible for. Related Reads 'Weeping for this country': Struggle continues in Hungary as Ireland joins Europe in stance against anti-LGBT+ bill The judges of the court are now beginning deliberations on the case. If the Court of Justice finds a member state has failed to fulfil obligations of EU law, the the country must comply with the Court's judgment 'without delay' or face further action like financial penalties. 'No place in the EU' Dávid Vig, director of Amnesty International Hungary, said the Advocate General's opinion 'made it clear the [anti-LGBTQ+] law has no place in Hungary and the European Union'. 'The discriminatory law violates several human rights and promotes the idea that the life of LGBTI people is not of equal value,' Vig said. In March of this year, the Hungarian parliament passed legislation that restricts freedom of assembly and consequently prohibited LGBTQ+ Pride marches . LGBTQ+ rights organisation ILGA-Europe said the today's opinion from the Advocate General should mean the anti-Pride legislation is also considered to be violating EU law. 'The AG's opinion is very clear in that Hungary breaches EU law and the Treaties by enacting the anti-LGBTI legislation from 2021,' said ILGA-Europe's advocacy director Katrin Hugendubel. 'The new package of amendments adopted this year to criminalise Pride marches and their organisers builds directly on that unlawful legislation and must therefore also be considered a violation of EU law.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... 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The Guardian
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Hungary's crackdown on LGBTQ+ content violates human rights, says EU's top court
A Hungarian law banning content about LGBTQ+ people from schools and primetime TV has been found to violate basic human rights and freedom of expression by a senior legal scholar at the European court of justice. The non-binding opinion from the court's advocate-general, Tamara Ćapeta, issued on Thursday, represents a comprehensive demolition of the arguments made by the Hungarian government defending its so-called childprotection law, passed in 2021. The legislation, which has been likened to Russia's infamous 'gay propaganda law', means that gay and transgender people or themes cannot feature in school educational material or any TV show, film or advert shown before 10pm. In a resounding opinion, Ćapeta wrote that the law was not based on any scientific proof but a value judgment or – backing a position presented by the European parliament to the court – 'a prejudice that homosexual and non-cisgender [transgender] life is not of equal value or status as heterosexual and cisgender life'. Far from protecting children from harm, she concluded, the legislation 'expands such harm'. In her 69-page opinion she wrote: 'The stigmatising effects of the Hungarian legislation, which creates a climate of hostility towards LGBTI persons, may affect the feelings of identity, self-esteem and self-confidence of LGBTI persons. 'Minors who belong to the LGBTI community are especially affected, as the removal of information about LGBTI lives from the public sphere prevents them from realising that their life is not abnormal.' 'It also affects their acceptance by their peers, in school or other environments and thus affects their right to a 'private social life' as well. Therefore, rather than protecting minors from harm, the contested legislation expands such harm.' She concluded that Hungary had violated fundamental rights of human dignity, respect for family life and non-discrimination under the EU treaty and charter of fundamental rights. Ćapeta supported arguments that the law also breached EU commerce and audiovisual laws that prevent governments from imposing restrictions on media companies without a well-founded public interest. The opinion does not bind the court but ECJ judges follow the advocate general in most cases. The Hungarian government has been contacted for comment. Sign up to Headlines Europe A digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day after newsletter promotion The European Commission began legal proceedings against Hungary in 2021 after the law was passed. The provisions against LGBTQ+ content were seen as especially stigmatising because they were part of a child protection law targeting child abusers. The opinion comes as Hungary continues its crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights. Lawmakers in April passed a constitutional amendment that codifies a ban on Pride events and allows authorities to use facial recognition technology to track attenders so they can be fined. Last month 17 EU member states, including France and Germany, signed a letter organised by the Dutch government condemning Hungary's anti-LGBTIQ+ legislation and urging Budapest to revise these measures. Many of those member states, 16, as well as the European parliament, joined the European Commission's case against Hungary on the law banning LGBTQ+ content.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Zippo's Court Setback Boosts EU Right to Retaliate Against Trump
The European Union 's power to impose retaliatory tariffs on US goods and services won a legal boost from an adviser to the bloc's top court, as the 27-member jurisdiction continues to spar with President Donald Trump over trade. In a case that pits leading lighting maker Zippo Manufacturing Co. against the European Commission, the EU Court of Justice's Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta said that the firm's challenge against the bloc's 2020 retaliatory US tariffs should be dismissed.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
Hungary's Anti-LGBTQ+ Clampdown Handed Legal Setback by EU Court
Hungary's attempts to silence LGBTQ+ media faced a legal setback from an adviser to the European Union 's top court, as tensions flare between Budapest and Brussels over Prime Minister Viktor Orban's discriminatory policies. 'Disrespect and marginalization of a group in a society are the red lines imposed by the values of equality, human dignity and respect for human rights,' the European Court of Justice's Advocate General Tamara Ćapeta said in an advisory opinion on Thursday — backing the European Commission 's claim that Hungary's law infringes the bloc's rules.
The Guardian
13-02-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Top EU court adviser finds Denmark's ‘ghetto law' is direct discrimination
Denmark's 'ghetto law', which allows the state to demolish apartment blocks in areas where at least half of residents have a 'non-western' background, constitutes direct discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin, a senior adviser to the EU's top court has found. Danish social housing law categorises neighbourhoods on the basis of unemployment, crime, education, income and immigrant population. Those where more than 50% of residents are from a 'non-western' backgrounds are labelled a 'parallel society', formerly referred to as a 'ghetto'. If, in addition to unfavourable socioeconomic conditions, a neighbourhood has also had an immigrant population of more than 50% for the last five years, it is labelled a 'transformation area', formerly known as a 'hard ghetto'. This requires the public housing association to propose a plan to cut social housing by 40% – including by selling properties, demolition or conversion and terminating the lease of the former tenants - by 2030. The European court of justice (ECJ) said in a statement on Thursday that Tamara Ćapeta, an advocate general, had found in a non-binding legal opinion that 'the division between 'western' and 'non-western' immigrants and their descendants is based on ethnic origin.' The statement added: 'She considers that, although 'non-westerners' are an ethnically diverse group, what unites that group is not a commonality of factors that form 'ethnicity' within that group, but rather the perception by the Danish legislature that this group does not possess the characteristics of the other group, the 'westerners'.' The ECJ follows the advice of its advocates general most of the time. Although tenants whose leases were terminated were not selected on the basis of their non-western origin, 'they nevertheless suffer direct discrimination on the basis of the ethnic criterion,' Ćapeta found, according to the statement. She said the legislation put tenants in a vulnerable position in terms of housing which led to worse treatment than those in neighbourhoods where the majority of the population was of 'western' origin. 'The ethnic criterion used by Danish legislation stigmatises the ethnic group whose structural disadvantage in their ability to integrate into Danish society was recognised, thus curtailing rather than enhancing their chances to integrate into that society,' the statement said. The case was referred to the ECJ by Denmark's eastern high court after tenants on the Mjølnerparken estate in Copenhagen and Schackenborgvænge estate in Slagelse challenged the legality of development plans based on Danish social housing law. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion Louise Holck, the director of the Danish Institute for Human Rights, which was involved in the case, welcomed the ruling, which she said could have broad implications if it is agreed upon by the ECJ. 'Her interpretation of the directive ensures effective protection against discrimination based on ethnicity. If the court reaches the same conclusion as the advocate general, the Parallel Societies Act could be in violation of EU law,' she said. 'In that case, the state must correct the situation to ensure that citizens are not discriminated against and amend the law to comply with EU regulations. This case is both important and a matter of principle, as it could have implications for everyone who has been subjected to the same treatment.' The Parallel Society Act, formerly known as the ghetto law, came into force in July 2018, but Denmark has had regulations targeting so-called 'ghetto areas' since 2010. The Danish minister of social affairs and housing, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, said she had noted the advocate general's proposal, but would not take action until the ECJ makes a final decision, which is expected in the spring.
