"The rainbow ideology has become a dogma in the European Union, where they want to set an example by condemning Hungary for not backing down," said Rodrigo Ballester, head of the Center for European Studies at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC). In December 2022, the European Commission triggered infringement proceedings and launched a lawsuit against Hungary at the EU Court of Justice, citing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the expert recalled. He pointed out that Brussels found fault with three things: one is the general ban on sexual propaganda in schools, with a special focus on homosexuality and gender ideology. In addition, they objected to the exclusion of NGOs from schools, as these organisations are not allowed to provide education on LGBTQ issues, and the EU was not happy that the Hungarian law allows parents to decide on the sexual education of their children.
Mandatory gender ideology?
Brussels found these three aspects problematic with unusual swiftness, Rodrigo Ballester noted. As soon as Hungary adopted the relevant legislation, which falls within national competence, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen initiated infringement proceedings against Hungary at record speed, within weeks, at the EU Court of Justice, calling the Hungarian law shameful.
This case is extremely important because its outcome will determine whether the gender ideology or the woke ideology can be made mandatory in all EU member states. It will now be decided whether the EU has become a club where liberalism is the norm and no longer can anyone remain conservative,
the expert from MCC highlighted.
On the basis of previous cases, he continued, it is likely that the Hungarian regulation will be considered unlawful, when in fact it is not, as the EU has no say in the matter. Article 165 of the EU Treaty states that the content of teaching and the organization of education systems fall within national competence. "What is happening now is like taking away national competences on the grounds of European values. The EU has given itself a blank check in determining what falls within its competence and what falls within the competence of the member states."
"This is the biggest ever blow to European legislation as paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the Treaty says that member states make decisions in areas where the competences have not been conferred upon the EU exclusively."
"Is there anyone left who cares about this golden rule of the EU?" Rodrigo Ballester raised the question.
Institutionalized arbitrariness
There is a serious risk, he stressed, that the EU will use common values to interfere in matters that fall within the competence of nation states. A good example is the issue of media freedom, which Brussels has stated is closely linked to the internal market and is therefore also an EU competence. "If we take this argument as a starting point, then even the sexual education of Hungarian children is linked to the internal market, and Brussels can use this as a pretext to take all national competences."
My fear is that in the name of European values and the rule of law, which can be applied to everything, the EU can accuse member states of anything, but of course only if it wants to.
Brussels is doing this to Hungary, and it is also applying double standards when it leaves alone, for example, Spain, which has become a kleptocracy. This is institutionalized arbitrariness, said the head of the MCC Center for European Studies.
Orwellian and frightening
He pointed out that this perverse mechanism was exposed by the dispute around the Erasmus scheme with Brussels excluding Hungarian students at the model-changing Hungarian universities from the EU student exchange programs. There is no better example of the double standards used against Hungary than the fact that students from the 21 model-changing Hungarian universities cannot participate in the Erasmus program on an individual basis, while the Russian students can. "The EU has no say whatsoever in the organization of education, yet collective punishment is applied without prior investigation, for a behavior they assumed but never experienced, and all in the name of the rule of law. This is truly Orwellian and frightening, said Rodrigo Ballester.
The expert also highlighted that
with the re-election of Donald Trump, the United States firmly rejected the woke ideology, which Brussels would force down the throats of Hungarians through financial blackmail, in the name of anti-discrimination.
The mechanism is in place to make woke mandatory, which is dramatic and dystopian, as this ideology leads to the mutilation and irreversible physical harming of young children. "I would very much like the Brussels bureaucrats to look at the pictures of double mastectomy and vaginoplasty (surgical procedure to convert the primary male genital organ into a female genital organ) and then decide whether the Hungarian legislation can be considered discriminatory. This will backfire on Brussels because Hungary will not give up and will resist, for which I will be forever grateful to the Hungarian government."
