Brussels, Belgium

Keynote speech by Judit Varga, Minister of Justice for Hungary

• 6PM, Monday, 24 April 2023
• Sofitel Brussels, 1 Place Jourdan, 1040 Bruxelles
• Registrations are by confirmation only. To apply for a place, please fill in the form here. We will contact you to confirm your place.

Following the legal action joined by 15 member-states including Germany, France and Belgium against Hungary over a law aiming to limit the exposure of children to content promoting gender ideology, the Hungarian Minister of Justice, Judit Varga, will address MCC Brussel’s event on childhood, subsidiarity and the rule of law.  

Frank Furedi, Executive Director of MCC Brussels, said: 

“We are so excited to host the Minister at this critical time when Hungary has become the target of constant scapegoating by governments adhering to a woke political agenda. In a civilized world, diplomats recognize the right of each sovereign country to decide how it regulates its own education and family life. Since when is it the business Belgians, French or Germans to decide which laws the Hungarian parliament can adopt?

There was a time when members of the EU recognized the right of member nations to determine how it educates and socializes its children. This right is now put to question the launching of proceeding against Hungary at the European Court of Justice by governments hostile to the family politics of this nation.”

Join MCC Brussels for this event in conjunction with German-Hungarian Institute for European Cooperation and Foundation for a Civic Hungary. It will feature a keynote talk by the Hungarian Minister of Justice, Judit Varga. Responses will follow from Prof. Frank Furedi, Executive Director, MCC Brussels, Prof. Werner J. Patzelt, Research Director, MCC Brussels, Prof. Michael Sommer, Professor of Ancient History, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. 

Registrations are by confirmation only. To apply for a place, please fill in the form here. We will contact you to confirm your place.

About the event

The EU-Hungary Gordian knot: Childhood, the Rule of Law, and the Principle of Subsidiarity

6PM, Monday, 24 April, 2023

Sofitel Brussels, 1 Place Jourdan, 1040 Bruxelles
 

In the latest of a series of battles between the European Union and Hungary, 15 member-states including Germany, France and Belgium have joined an EU lawsuit against Hungary over a law aiming to limit the exposure of children to content promoting gender ideology. Hungary is accused of breaching fundamental EU values and discriminating against LGBT minorities.

This disagreement raises a fundamental question that arises repeatedly in disagreements between the EU and sovereign states: Who decides? In recent years, this question has been raised time and again in the EU: Who decides the specifics of a legal system for a country? Who decides where decisions about foreign policy are taken? Who decides what values our children are taught in schools? 

What, therefore, is the proper relationship between national government and the EU on questions of education? What does the principle of subsidiarity require for this issue? Are questions of education and values central to the rule of law? Who decides? 

About MCC Brussels