EU-Hungary clash expected concerning transgender women rights

A recent court ruling that transgender women should have the right to a special women’s pension after 40 years of working “is a gross provocation”, deputy Fidesz group leader Gabriella Selmeczi said in a public radio interview on Sunday.

She said the “women 40” scheme sponsored by the prime minister and passed with the votes of the ruling coalition aimed at expressing respect and appreciation for women, while the country’s fundamental law states that no “social gender” exists legally, only “biological gender”. A birth certificate states whether someone is male or female, she said, adding that legislation must be interpreted accordingly. For this reason, the Veszprém court ruling was “outrageous”, Selmeczi said.

The Fidesz politician insisted that a European Commission spokesperson had recently declared that the laws of member states should comply with obligations stemming from, say, the European Convention on Human Rights, but procedure related to the legal recognition of gender was beyond the purview of the EU. Left-Liberal claims to the contrary were simply not true, she added. To qualify for the scheme, a woman must have worked for 40 years, including years spent raising children, to receive the pension’s full value, she said.

MPs should examine whether the law should be amended to close any loopholes, she said, noting that Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen and the head of the PM’S office Gergely Gulyas have submitted a relevant proposal to parliament.

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