Budapest Pride expected to be a rallying cry against Orbán’s rollback of rights
Good morning and welcome to the Europe live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines.
We start with news that record numbers of people are expected to take part in Budapest Pride on Saturday. Hungarians will join forces with campaigners and politicians from across Europe in the march that has become a potent symbol of pushback against the Hungarian government’s steady rollback of rights.
“This weekend, all eyes are on Budapest,” Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality, told reporters in the Hungarian capital on Friday.
“This is bigger than one Pride celebration, one Pride march. It is about the right to be who you are, to love who you want, whether it is in Budapest, in Brussels or anywhere else.”
The country’s main Pride march was cast into doubt earlier this year after the country’s ruling Fidesz party – led by the rightwing populist Viktor Orbán – backed legislation that created a legal basis for Pride to be banned, citing a widely criticised need to protect children.
The government also said it would use facial recognition software to identify people attending any banned events, potentially fining them up to €500 (£425).
The move caused outrage from within Hungary and beyond, turning Budapest Pride into a rallying cry against a government that has long faced criticism for weakening democratic institutions and gradually undermining the rule of law.
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
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Severe weather warnings have been issued across southern Europe, including in Italy, Spain and Portugal, with temperatures expected to get close to or locally even above 40C this weekend, prompting concerns about health hazards and wildfires (14:32).
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Expected temperatures on early Saturday afternoon: Madrid 38C, Thessaloníki 38C, Florence 38C, Rome 37C, Lisbon 36C, Tirana 36C, Athens 35C.
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It will be hot in Paris (32C) and still warm in London and Berlin 28C, and in Brussels 27C.
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European leaders failed to agree on the latest, 18th, package of sanctions at last night’s European Council meeting in Brussels, with Hungary and Slovakia holding firm in their opposition to the proposed measures.
-
But it’s worth noting that the EU has agreed on rolling over the already existing sanctions against Russia, which were due to expire.
-
In Germany, lawmakers agreed to suspend family reunification rights for refugees without asylum status as conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government pursues a crackdown on immigration.
-
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Estonia’s stated intention to let Nato allies’ nuclear-capable aircraft use its territory was a direct threat to Moscow.
Key events
Miranda Bryant
After 19 years of commuting to Denmark from Sweden, Helen Sjögren is so used to crossing the bridge that she identifies as Scandinavian rather than Swedish.
The researcher at a Danish pharmaceutical company lives in the Swedish university town of Lund with her three children but has become accustomed to Danish working practices, and the idea of working in Sweden is now difficult to imagine.
“Because I’m Swedish, colleagues would expect me to behave like a Swede,” she said, referring to their reputation for seeking consensus. “So I would be seen as rude – too direct to fit in Sweden.”
Danes, she has found, are more forthright. “I really like the Danish mentality and way of being. It suits me much better.”
“I really like the Danish mentality and way of being. It suits me much better.” At work, she and her colleagues speak slightly adapted versions of Swedish and Danish so that everybody can understand one another.
One of her few misgivings is that her taxes go to Copenhagen rather than her own municipality, where her children have gone to school and where she uses the healthcare services.
In the quarter of a century since it opened on 1 July 2000, the bridge – known as Øresundsbroen or Öresundsbron depending on whether you are on the Danish or Swedish side of the eponymous strait – has not only opened up Copenhagen’s vast job market to largely rural southern Sweden, but changed the prospects and even identities of many who use it.
The 15.9km (9.9 miles) rail and road link between Copenhagen and Malmö (which includes an 8km bridge, 4km tunnel and 4km artificial island) has also transformed the world’s perception of the region.
But the trajectory of the two ends of the bridge has been a story of two halves. Copenhagen has soared to international super status, becoming a must-see tourist destination, global fashion and design leader, host to the biggest airport in the Nordics, as well as being home to the maker of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk.
Thanks to the weak Swedish krona, it has become a magnet for Swedish workers, bringing in 2bn DKK (£230m) a year in tax revenues. Last year 105,000 daily journeys were made by car, train or boat over the strait, but most commuter traffic is travelling towards Denmark.
Southern Europe on heat alert as temperatures expected to hit 40 degrees celsius
Weather warnings for this weekend were issued for large parts of the Mediterranean region, with temperatures expected to get above 40 degrees celsius this weekend.
AFP reported that in Spain, emergency medical staff readied to deal with an expected surge in heatstroke cases, particularly among vulnerable groups such as children, elderly people and people with chronic illnesses.
In neighbouring Portugal, the national meteorological agency IPMA said the heatwave would hit from Saturday, with temperatures passing 40C in the south of the country as well as in the central Tagus and the Douro valleys in the north, AFP said.
21 cities in Italy were put on red alert warning, too, including Rome, Milan and Venice, with people told not to leave their homes between 11am and 6pm.
Florence is also expected to see temperatures up to 37 degrees celsius on Saturday. Greece is also getting ready to face the heatwave, with a meteoalert warning about temperatures expected to hit low 40s.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, this week joined calls for Hungarian authorities to allow the event to go ahead.
Hungarian prime minister Victor Orbán was swift to hit back, likening it to receiving orders from Moscow in communist times.
“She thinks she can dictate to Hungarians from Brussels how they should live,” he said in a radio interview.
The widespread pushback, both domestic and international, had seemingly done little to dissuade the Hungarian government. This week, the country’s justice minister, Bence Tuzson, appeared to warn embassy staff from attending the event.
“The legal situation is clear: the Pride parade is a legally banned assembly,” he said in a letter seen by the Guardian. “Those who take part in an event prohibited by the authorities commit an infraction,” he said, adding that those organising or announcing the event faced up to a year in prison.
The progressive mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, has said the gathering will instead go ahead as a municipal event, meaning it will not require official authorisation.
Nicolae Ștefănuță, the vice-president of the European parliament, on Friday called on police to respect those attending the Budapest Pride march.
“I would like to say that the police and institutions of the state have a duty to protect the citizens,” he said. “It’s as clear as possible.”
The sentiment was echoed in a petition, signed by more than 120,000 people spanning 73 countries, that called on police to “reject this unjust law” – believed to be the first of its kind in the EU’s recent history – and ensure that the march proceeded “unhindered and peacefully, free from discrimination, harassment, fear or violence”.
Despite uncertainty, tens of thousands of Hungarians are expected to take part.
Joining them will be politicians and rights campaigners from more than 30 countries, including Ireland’s former taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Spain’s minister of culture, Ernest Urtasun, more than 70 members of the European parliament, and the mayors of Brussels and Amsterdam.
Organisers of Budapest Pride, which this year will mark its 30th anniversary, said the government was attempting to restrict peaceful protests by targeting them.
“This event was one of the important milestones of the LGBTQ community,” said its spokesperson Máté Hegedüs.
“Our slogan this year is that we are at home. By this, we want to draw attention to the fact that LGBTQ people are an integral part of Hungarian society, just as any other people. In our history, in our culture, this is where we belong.”
Hours before the march was due to begin, however, uncertainty loomed over how officials would react.
While prime minister Victor Orbán has said that those who attend or organise the march will face “legal consequences”, he said Hungary was a “civilised country” and police would not “break it up … It cannot reach the level of physical abuse”.
Budapest Pride expected to be a rallying cry against Orbán’s rollback of rights
Good morning and welcome to the Europe live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news lines.
We start with news that record numbers of people are expected to take part in Budapest Pride on Saturday. Hungarians will join forces with campaigners and politicians from across Europe in the march that has become a potent symbol of pushback against the Hungarian government’s steady rollback of rights.
“This weekend, all eyes are on Budapest,” Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality, told reporters in the Hungarian capital on Friday.
“This is bigger than one Pride celebration, one Pride march. It is about the right to be who you are, to love who you want, whether it is in Budapest, in Brussels or anywhere else.”
The country’s main Pride march was cast into doubt earlier this year after the country’s ruling Fidesz party – led by the rightwing populist Viktor Orbán – backed legislation that created a legal basis for Pride to be banned, citing a widely criticised need to protect children.
The government also said it would use facial recognition software to identify people attending any banned events, potentially fining them up to €500 (£425).
The move caused outrage from within Hungary and beyond, turning Budapest Pride into a rallying cry against a government that has long faced criticism for weakening democratic institutions and gradually undermining the rule of law.
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
-
Severe weather warnings have been issued across southern Europe, including in Italy, Spain and Portugal, with temperatures expected to get close to or locally even above 40C this weekend, prompting concerns about health hazards and wildfires (14:32).
-
Expected temperatures on early Saturday afternoon: Madrid 38C, Thessaloníki 38C, Florence 38C, Rome 37C, Lisbon 36C, Tirana 36C, Athens 35C.
-
It will be hot in Paris (32C) and still warm in London and Berlin 28C, and in Brussels 27C.
-
European leaders failed to agree on the latest, 18th, package of sanctions at last night’s European Council meeting in Brussels, with Hungary and Slovakia holding firm in their opposition to the proposed measures.
-
But it’s worth noting that the EU has agreed on rolling over the already existing sanctions against Russia, which were due to expire.
-
In Germany, lawmakers agreed to suspend family reunification rights for refugees without asylum status as conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government pursues a crackdown on immigration.
-
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Estonia’s stated intention to let Nato allies’ nuclear-capable aircraft use its territory was a direct threat to Moscow.