I asked European decision-makers to “be as brave as the people of Budapest” – mayor Karácsony in Strasbourg

I asked the European Commission to find a solution which would ensure that local governments are not the ones suffering the financial consequences of the Hungarian government's policies, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony said at a joint press conference with European Green Party Vice-Presidents Terry Reintke and Bas Eickhout in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

Budapest Pride was also among the topics they discussed. According to Karácsony, the last several months' events surrounding the banning of the event are proof that the Hungarian government is in a state of panic. “Pride has shown the importance of local governments when it comes to defending democracy. We are capable of defending the very foundations of democracy,” he said.

Karácsony arrived in Strasbourg on Tuesday afternoon, where he first met with President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. In addition to talking about Budapest Pride, their talks also focused on having EU funds be directly allocated to the Hungarian capital. The mayor said that during their meeting, he informed the Commission President about the problems faced by local governments in Hungary, which he believes are victims of systematic attacks by the government.

“I pointed out to Madame President that the rule of law procedure is essentially not punishing the government, but it does have a very serious impact on local governments,”

he said. Budapest is currently without any subsidy agreements for EU funds, even though there are several plans in the pipeline that could be launched as soon as funding is secured. “I don't know of any other European capital that has found itself in a similar situation in the middle of the EU cycle,” Karácsony said. He called on European decision-makers to “be as brave as the people of Budapest were at Pride.” He added that a significant portion of the parliamentary factions is in favour of direct funding.“ The most important outcome of this year's Budapest Pride is that the people of Budapest and our European friends who were present were able to experience what a free country we live in,” the mayor said about Pride.

According to Karácsony, it has become clear that Orbán isn't even able to ban Pride, he has made himself completely ridiculous,

and the reason why the police are not imposing fines on participants is because doing so would continue to keep the issue – which is embarrassing for the government – on the agenda. “However, they did not say that the organizers would not be punished. I would actually be grateful if that were to happen, because if I were to be taken to court, it would be very good for my popularity.“ He added that he does not expect the government to do so. In his opinion, the government is panicking because it has lost control over the people. ”I think there will be a change of government in Hungary next year.”

Bas Eickhout, one of the vice-presidents of the Greens, also spoke of the Hungarian government's “panic.” Eickhout said that although Pride is over, they are continuing to closely follow events in Hungary.

“The Hungarian government is panicking, and when people panic, they do even stranger things.”

The representative also said that the European Commission must take action if a proposal similar to the Transparency Bill were to re-emerge in Hungary. Speaking about Budapest Pride, Terry Reintke, the other vice president of the Greens, said that rather than there being no proceedings against the organizers, their goal was to have a declaration stating that “the ban was unlawful.”

The police announced on Monday that no proceedings would be initiated against those who participated in this year's Pride march. However, last week, the authorities did launch an investigation against unknown individuals in connection with this year's Budapest Pride, but it has not been revealed exactly who they are. For now, the only thing that is certain is that the investigation will not be targeting the participants.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán first spoke about his goal of banning Pride in his annual State of the Nation address in February, telling organizers that they should not bother organizing this year's event.

Then in the spring, in line with his wishes, parliament amended the constitution to state that among fundamental rights, children's right to healthy development comes before the right to assembly, and the law on assembly was modified accordinglyprohibiting the organizing of gatherings which violate the provisions of the law officially called the Child Protection Act, known as the anti-LGBTQ law adopted in 2021.

In the end, Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony announced that the Pride parade would be held as an event of the municipality, but the police banned it nevertheless. Justice Minister Bence Tuzson then threatened the organizers with imprisonment and the participants with fines .

Despite this, the event went ahead as planned and it became the biggest Pride parade ever held in the Hungarian capital.