The EU alleges the Hungarian law undermines core human rights values while Budapest says it wants to protect children.
The top court in the European Union has started hearing a case that marks a major confrontation between Hungary and the bloc over a law criticised as being anti-LGBTQ.
A lawyer for the European Commission, which in December 2022 referred the case to the Court of Justice, told the tribunal on Tuesday that the legislation was a “massive and flagrant violation of several important EU rules”.
“This is a frontal and serious attack on the rule of law and more generally on European society.”
The Hungarian Child Protection Act is legislation approved by the Central European country in 2021 with the ostensible goal of safeguarding children from harm, including by imposing a zero-tolerance policy for convicted paedophiles.
But it also puts restrictions on depictions of homosexuality and gender reassignment in media and educational content made for children under 18, prompting outrage from activists and many politicians in other EU countries who criticised the law for stigmatising LGBTQ people and equating same-sex relations to paedophilia.
The European Parliament in April adopted a resolution that strongly condemned the law and alleges it works towards dismantling democracy and the rule of law in Hungary.
Sixteen of the 27 member states of the bloc, including France and Germany, also joined in on the legal action taken against Budapest in what has been described as the largest human rights case in EU history.
They believe the law is modelled after a similar piece of legislation enacted in Russia, which was declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights in 2017.
In Hungary, bookstores and shops have received hefty fines for depicting blacklisted content after the government started implementing the legislation.
The European Commission alleges the legislation violates core EU values on fighting discrimination and upholding human rights while undermining single market rules on services and audiovisual media.
Budapest has dismissed the allegations, arguing that the law is meant to protect children and a referendum held on the subject favoured the legislation.
If Hungary is found to be at fault by the Court of Justice, it could potentially be ordered to pay a large fine, or such a verdict could even lead to procedures that could suspend the country’s voting rights in EU meetings.
Many EU countries have also been angered by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s close relations with Russia and delays in support for Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion of the country nearly three years ago.
The EU has other legal proceedings under way against Hungary, including over its “sovereignty” and foreign influence law.