The opinion gives the European Commission clout in its clash with Budapest over fundamental rights, which most recently escalated after Orbán’s government banned Pride events in mid-March and authorized police to use biometric cameras to identify organizers and attendees.
Advocate-general opinions are nonbinding. However, they do often signal where the court will land in its final ruling, which usually comes out within months following the opinion.
The European Commission opened an infringement procedure in July 2021 after Hungary adopted the law, which seeks to bar children from seeing LGBTQ+ content across television programs and advertisements, books, sex education classes and beyond. Same-sex couples and transgender people are banned from daytime TV and ads, while queer-themed books must be sealed and can’t be sold near schools and churches.
Budapest invoked the EU’s audiovisual media rulebook and its provisions on protecting minors from harmful content as a legal basis to limit the visibility of LGBTQ+ communities on television.
“The Hungarian bill is a shame,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in 2021, vowing to use “all the powers of the Commission to ensure that the rights of all EU citizens are guaranteed, whoever you are and wherever you live.”
In December 2022, the EU executive took the case to court and got the backing of 15 member countries and the European Parliament.
