The push from European Union figures to encroach on Hungary’s education system through LGBT diktats threatens the country’s way of life, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has warned.
Striking back against woke threats from the likes of Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and other EU leaders, Viktor Orbán said that Hungary must stand up for self-determination, particularly when it comes to the education of children.
“They behave like colonialists. They want to dictate what laws should take effect in another country, they want to tell us how to live our lives and how to behave,” the Hungarian leader said of the EU leaders.
Orbán went on to say that critics of his legislation — which places limits on the depictions of non-traditional sexual relationships in schools and in media content aimed at children — denotes the “bad reflexes caused by their European colonialist past”.
In separate comments, the national populist leader warned: “If we allow others to tell us how we should live, who should be allowed to live in Hungary, how we should organise our lives and raise our children, we will be lost.”
The comments come in response to growing moves against the Hungarian legislation across Europe, with the leaders of 17 European Union nations writing in opposition to the move last month, calling for Hungary to be brought before the European Court of Justice over the matter.
Orbán has argued that placing limits on the promotion of transgenderism, homosexuality, and other subjects related to sex and sexuality in schools empowers parents to teach their children how they want, rather than have leftist ideology forced upon youngsters in schools.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the legislation “a shame,” saying: “This bill clearly discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and it goes against all the fundamental values of the European Union.”
One of the other chief critics of the bill has been Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who said that the EU should “force Hungary to its knees on this issue,” and suggested that Hungary might have to be removed from the bloc.
Left-leaning newspapers across Europe have also jumped to condemn the traditionalist legislation, enacting a prohibition on political advertisements from Mr Orban’s political party, the Hungarian Civic Alliance (Fidesz).
Yet, the move to impose uniform education standards crafted by Eurocrats in Brussels has sparked a rebellion among populist parties throughout the continent.
The leaders of sixteen right-wing parties, including France’s National Rally leader Marine Le Pen, VOX leader Santiago Abascal in Spain, the Italian senator and League leader Matteo Salvini, Mr Orbán, and others have signed a joint declaration on the importance of national sovereignty in the face of a growing “EU superstate”.
“The cooperation of European nations should be based on tradition, respect for the culture and history of European states, respect for Europe’s Judeo-Christian heritage and the common values that unite our nations, and not on their destruction,” the statement said.
“The use of political structures and the law to create a European superstate and new social structures is a manifestation of the dangerous and invasive social engineering known from the past, which must provoke legitimate resistance,” the declaration added.
“The moralistic overactivity that we have seen in recent years in the EU institutions has resulted in a dangerous tendency to impose an ideological monopoly,” it warned.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.