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Brussels (AP) – A large majority of European Union countries on Tuesday asked Hungary to review a new law that allows public events to be prohibited by LGBTQ+communities, as the pressure on the country’s populist government increases on the democratic recoil.

In a statement, at least 20 of the 27 EU nations, including France, Germany and Spain, expressed concern that the law approved in April allows fines in people who organize or participate in pride events, and the use of facial recognition software to identify them.

“We are very alarmed by these developments, which go to the fundamental values ​​of human dignity, freedom, equality and respect for human rights” consecrated in EU’s treaties, they said.

They asked the European Commission, the powerful executive branch that monitors respect for the EU laws, “to quickly use the use of the toolbox of the rule of law at their disposal in case these measures are not reviewed accordingly.”

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The statement was published on social networks as ministers for EU matters gathered in Brussels to obtain more conversations about the way in which the firm nationalist government of Hungary has introduced legislation that its partners consider to undermine the standards of the rule of law.

“I think it’s time for us to consider the next steps, because this makes no sense to continue with these hearings,” said Jessica Rosencrantz, the EU Sweden Affairs Minister, who registered in the statement.

Rosencrantz said that the EU is “not only a geographical union but a union based on values, and in that sense we have to act strongly against countries that are not up to our common principles.”

The EU Minister of Affairs of Hungary, János Bóka, said that the new law has simply been misunderstood.

“There is no such thing in Hungary as a prohibition of pride,” Bóka told journalists. “I hope that after these discussions, my colleagues around the table go out with a more nuanced opinion about Hungarian legislation.”

The constitutional amendment approved in April declares that the rights of children to moral, physical and spiritual development replace any other right other than the right to life, including that to meet peacefully. The controversial legislation of “child protection” of Hungary prohibits the “representation or promotion” of homosexuality to children under 18 years.

The EU commissioner responsible for democracy, justice and the rule of law, Michael McGrath, said the “will is there” to take measures against Hungary. He said that “now an exhaustive analysis of the relevant legislation is underway.”

McGrath also expressed “very serious concerns” about another bill in Hungary. This bill would allow the government to monitor, restrict, penalize and potentially prohibit organizations that it considers a threat to national sovereignty.

The bill marks a significant climb of the long -term repression of the government against critical means and non -governmental organizations.

It would allow the Hungarian Sovereignty Protection Office to identify organizations that influence the public debate or the feeling of voters in a way that it considers harmful to the interests of Hungary.

“We believe that it is a violation of the EU law, which includes a violation of internal market freedoms and also a violation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,” McGrath said. “We are ready to use the tools at our disposal” to oppose it, he added.

As part of his many legal disputes with the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the European Commission has deprived Hungary to access billions of euros in EU funds, partly for fear that money can be misused.

“At this time, around 18 billion euros ($ 20 billion) are not available for Hungary. That is due to their own infractions of the rule of law. I would like it to be the opposite,” McGrath told journalists.

Despite the projections of the pink government, Hungary’s economy has been for at least two years in a state of stagnation, partly due to EU frozen funds.

Fighting under high inflation, Hungary’s gross domestic product returned to a negative territory in the first quarter of 2025, the only contraction in the EU.

Hungary has also increasingly moved away from the EU fold over the Russian-Ukraine war, repeatedly retaining the passage of the multimillionaire help packages of euro to kyiv and sanctions to Moscow.

But its European partners are increasingly inclined to proceed without the Orbán government.

Justin Spike contributed to this Budapest report, Hungary.