"The court has clearly made a political decision, which raises serious concerns regarding European Union law and constitutional law," Orban said in his letter dated April 30 to the head of state. Orban added that respecting and protecting Hungary’s sovereignty and constitutional identity was mandatory for everyone.

"The court’s ruling raises serious concerns regarding both member state sovereignty and constitutional identity," he said.

Orban recalled that on December 19, 2022, the European Commission filed a lawsuit against Hungary with the CJEU, arguing that the law on stricter measures against pedophile offenders and amendments to certain laws for the protection of children violates Hungary’s obligations arising from its EU membership. The Court upheld this in its judgment dated April 21, 2026.

Orban said the CJEU based its decision largely on the European Union’s internal market regulations, despite the law's child protection objectives. He added that the court not only established a connection to internal market regulations in the case of goods, media, and advertising services, but also included the provisions of the Public Education Act in this context.

He said that by invoking internal market regulations, the court is undermining member states’ competences in the field of education, despite the fact that, under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Union is obliged to respect member states’ competences regarding the content and organisational structure of education.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights recognises the right of parents to ensure that their children receive an education in accordance with their religious, philosophical, or pedagogical convictions, Orban said. However, the court’s decision has completely undermined parents’ right to provide an education in accordance with their convictions, he added.

Orban also said that the court’s ruling disregarded Hungary’s fundamental law, and the ruling is incompatible with its provisions in several respects. The fundamental law protects the family as the foundation of the nation’s survival and states that the basis of family relations is marriage and the parent-child relationship. It further states that a person is either male or female.

A mother is a woman, a father is a man; it establishes that Hungary protects families and children through special measures, he said.

Orban said the court’s decision runs counter to the concept of family outlined in the fundamental law, and by using the vocabulary of "social gender" and the term "cisgender", it denies the image of humanity laid down in the fundamental law.

The fundamental law states that every child has the right to the protection and care necessary for proper physical, mental, and moral development, and defines this right as taking precedence over all other fundamental rights.

It protects children’s right to self-identity consistent with their biological sex and ensures an upbringing based on the value system rooted in Hungary’s constitutional self-identity and Christian culture, he added.

Orban noted that the fundamental law establishes that parents have the right to choose the education to be provided to their children, while parents are obliged to care for their minor children, including their education.

Contrary to the fundamental law, the court's decision does not define the child's right to protection and care necessary for their proper physical, mental, and moral development as a fundamental right that takes precedence over all other fundamental rights.

Although the court itself emphasises that the best interests of the child take precedence over all else, it effectively subordinates this to the prohibition of discrimination, he added.

Orban said this was the first time in the history of the EU that the CJEU has found a violation of Article 2 TEU, which enshrines the fundamental values of the EU, thereby opening the door to the possibility of invoking general EU values of indeterminate content against member state norms on a broader scale in the future.

Sulyok: Child-protection legislation must strike balance between EU law, constitutional requirements and intl legal norms

Crafting legal solutions that maintain a high level of child protection while ensuring a fair balance between European Union law, constitutional requirements and relevant international legal norms is a national legislative task, the President of the Republic said in a letter to the outgoing prime minister concerning a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) on the Hungarian Child Protection Act on Monday.

In his letter responding to Viktor Orban, Tamas Sulyok said that after the CJEU's ruling, it was a national legislative task, stemming from the principle of legal certainty, to develop a legal solution that "maintains a high level of child protection while ensuring a proper harmony between EU law, the constitutional requirements of the Fundamental Law and relevant international legal norms, in order to achieve a fair balance".

He added in the letter posted on Facebook that fulfilling this task was a cooperative obligation and shared responsibility of all constitutional bodies, including parliament and the government.

The president expressed hope that the parties elected to parliament in April, along with the incoming government, would address these issues in a way that meets public expectations.

He said there was a national consensus that children's right to healthy physical, mental and spiritual development must be strictly protected by law.

Orban informed the president in a letter on April 30 that the Hungarian government would not enforce the CJEU's ruling on Hungary's child protection law, citing political, legal and constitutional concerns.

The outgoing PM argued that respecting and defending Hungary's sovereignty and constitutional identity was a duty for all, with the Constitutional Court as the ultimate guardian.

He said the Court has defined two main limits to the joint exercise of competence through EU institutions, namely that it must not violate Hungary's sovereignty nor harm its constitutional identity. Orban said the EU court's ruling "raises serious concerns for both member state sovereignty and constitutional identity."

Orban noted that the European Commission had filed a lawsuit against Hungary at the CJEU in December 2022, alleging that a law on stricter measures against paedophile offenders and amendments to protect children violated Hungary's EU membership obligations. The Court ruled in the EC's favour in its April 21 decision.

MTI Stock Photo

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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