Region: EU asks Hungary to stop pro-life campaign

Staff Report

For the Budapest Times

Hungary's use of European Union funds to finance a nationwide anti-abortion campaign is not in line with their intended purpose, the vice president of the EU's executive arm said June 8 during a debate over Hungary's new constitution in the European Parliament.

Central to the campaign is an emotive billboard advertisement that went up around Budapest and the provinces last month depicting a fetus below the words, "I understand if you're not ready for me yet, but give me up for adoption, instead. Please, let me live!"

Hungary was granted funding through the EU's Program for Employment and Social Solidarity (PROGRESS) for an awareness-raising campaign about work-life balance, said Viviane Reding, European Commission vice president and commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship. She had made it "very clear" the anti-abortion campaign was not a use for which PROGRESS funds were intended.

"It is not in line with the project proposal submitted to the commission by the Hungarian authorities," Reding said. "The commission asks [the Hungarian government] to stop this part of the campaign without further delay and to remove all existing posters."

Reding warned failure to comply would lead to the termination of the grant agreement and the "financial consequences" that would entail.

Hungarian Secretary for Youth, Social and Family Affairs Miklós Soltész launched the government's "balance for family" media campaign in May, saying it would cost around 110 million forints, of which 80 percent would come from the EU's PROGRESS fund.

Soltész noted the importance of life was now recognized in the country's newly revised constitution.

"Many parents are waiting for the chance to adopt a child," he said. "The process of adoption could be made a lot easier than it has been in the past."

Reding said June 8 that under the Lisbon Treaty, constitutional matters are the sovereign concerns of member states. However, she said EU law would come into play if the interpretation of a country's constitution led to legislation or rulings that violated EU laws.

"I can assure Parliament that we would not hesitate for a moment to intervene in such a case," Reding said.

Hungary's National Resources Ministry, which is responsible for the country's social affairs, did not respond to messages seeking comment left by The Prague Post. A spokesman told The Wall Street Journal, however, that it is currently working to resolve the dispute with the EU.

"The Hungarian government intends to put an end to the case as soon as possible and considers this a technical and legal issue," the spokesman told the paper.

The abortion campaign had already been the subject of an official request by members of European Parliament May 23 for a written response from the European Commission.

"Is the commission aware of the fact that its PROGRESS funds, designed to support the implementation of the European Union social agenda, are being used to finance an anti-abortion campaign?" they asked in the official written request, initiated by Sophia in't Veld, a Dutch MEP with the liberal ALDE group.

However, among the 14 signatories were Sirpa Pietikainen of Finland and Jean-Marie Cavada of France. Both are members of the European People's Party (EPP), which Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party is a member. The EPP has so far supported the Hungarian government in the European Parliament amid repeated attacks from left-wing and liberal opponents over a controversial Media Act and a new constitution drafted solely by Fidesz appointees.

Although usually identified with Orbán and the conservative Fidesz party he heads, the government relies on the 37 MPs of its junior alliance partner, the Christian Democrats (KDNP), for its two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The KDNP wanted an outright ban on abortion to be included in the new constitution, which was ratified by government lawmakers in April.

However, Fidesz - according to reports, Orbán personally - was against such a potentially unpopular move.

The Christian Democrats had to make do with a general clause saying that the fetus is "worthy of protection from conception."

- Jack Buehrer contributed to this report.

The writers can be reached at news@praguepost.com