Hate speech is forbidden “even against Hungary”, says ministry

Over the past few weeks “the crude, anti-democratic remarks” made by the prime ministers of a number of European Union member states and several EU officials concerning Hungary’s new child protection law “have crossed a red line”, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement on Tuesday.

Hungary will defend itself from such attacks using all possible European legal means available, the ministry said in a statement, calling it “unacceptable that some bureaucrats are exploiting EU law for daily ideological skirmishes”.

“Common European values and fundamental rights … should not be seen as a menu from which representatives of the European ideological mainstream arbitrarily pick out what they prefer and ignore the rest,” the ministry said.

“Protecting the individual and collective rights of those belonging to indigenous national minorities, recognising the member states’ national and constitutional sovereignty and independence, communities’ right to self-determination, and child protection are mandatory rather than optional European rights and values,” the ministry said.