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Roma Pride Day - Karácsony Calls for Identity Law to be Withdrawn

• 29 Sep 2025 5:52 AM

Gergely Karacsony, the mayor of Budapest, addressing Roma Pride Day on Saturday called for "the discriminatory law" on the protection of local identity to be withdrawn.

Speaking at Pope John Paul II Square in the 8th District, Karacsony said the municipal decrees issued on its basis must also be annulled.

It was shameful, he said, that municipalities "have become locales of everyday fascism", arguing that the law was about "keeping Roma people away from" their towns and villages.

The mayor insisted that the essence of the identity law was that municipalities had no rights in terms of protecting their settlement or "standing up to power, capital, profit and investors," but they did have the right to "confront your own compatriots".

Whatever the law’s original intent, he said, it was now "one of the most shameful pieces of legislation."
 

"Either we're all free together, or none of us is," he said.

Karacsony said Roma people were the most discriminated against today. "They have to fight the hardest, they have to bear the greatest burden when they want to assert themselves."

"Let us build a country where no one has to fight harder than others! Let us build a country that offers everyone equal dignity and the opportunity to thrive," he declared.

 

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881. While MTI articles are usually factual, some may contain political bias, and readers should be aware that such content does not reflect the position of XpatLoop, which is neutral and independent.

Since the goal of XpatLoop is to keep readers well briefed, right across the spectrum of opinions, MTI items are shared to ensure readers are aware of all narratives within the local media.

XpatLoop believes in empowering readers to form their own views through complete and comprehensive coverage. To facilitate this XpatLoop has a balanced range of news partners, as you can see when you surf around XpatLoop.com

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