report

Budapest Pride: how will the 200,000 change the future for Hungary and the EU?

03/07/2025
democracy | hungary | inclusivity-and-gender-equality | rule-of-law
hungary | uef
Registration here

200,000 courageous people from Hungary and neighbouring countries demonstrated in Budapest for freedom, democracy and self-determination, but also against Orban’s regime. Despite Orban’s ban, the threat of €500 fines and right-wing extremist counter-demonstrations, not only the queer community but also the broad middle class took to the streets.

What was perhaps the largest demonstration in Hungary since the fall of the Iron Curtain became a celebration of freedom. Organised by Budapest’s Green mayor, 70 MEPs also mingled with the demonstrators to protect them. There was also a change in the police’s attitude: they were only supposed to accompany the right-wing extremist counter-demonstrations, but decided to protect the Pride After-Party for the first time ever.

  • Which courageous people made this success possible?
  • What does this historic day mean for Hungary’s future, for the elections in April next year?
  • Who is Peter Magyar (Tisza), who is ahead of Orban in the polls?
  • How does the corruption of the Orban regime affect people’s everyday lives and the election?

As UEF, we are promoting this online event organised by Europe Calling and MEP and Spinelli Group member Daniel Freund, with the participation of our EB member and President of UEF Hungary, Eszter Nagy.
Participants

  • Viktoria Radvanyi, Director of Budapest Pride
  • Akos Hadhazy, independent member of the Hungarian Parliament, known for his fight against Orban’s corruption
  • Eszter Nagy, UEF EB Member and President of the Union of European Federalists Hungary
  • Daniel Freund, Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the Intergroup on Corruption
  • Moderator: Maximilian Fries, Managing Director of Europe Calling e.V.

The event is with interpretation in German and English.


What is Europe Calling?

Europe Calling is one of the largest policy webinar format in Europe. Since 2017, more than 250,000 people from all over Europe and the world have regularly participated online, engaging directly with policymakers, leading academics, stakeholders and civil society representatives.

They strive to create an open transnational space for European citizens to engage, learn and organise a voice in the key European debates of this time.

All webinars are recorded and viewable here: https://www.youtube.com/c/EuropeCallingWebinars/videos

Here the websitehttps://europe-calling.de/en/about/

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