“I strongly condemn the charges brought against Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony for organising Budapest Pride in June last year despite the national ban on Pride events in Hungary. I urge the Hungarian authorities to drop these charges,” said Marc Cools, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, in a statement today.

“In June 2025, Congress Standing Rapporteur on Human Rights Gudrun Mosler-Törnström (Austria, SOC/G/PD) met Mayor Karácsony in Budapest on the eve of Budapest Pride to express the Congress support of his firm stance against restricting the human rights of LGBTIQ+ persons, including their freedoms of expression and of assembly. She stressed at the time that national constitutions and legislation cannot be used to force local authorities to violate human rights of citizens.

“In October 2025, Mayor Karácsony addressed the Congress session in Strasbourg on freedom of peaceful assembly, where he called Pride 2025 ‘an act of civic resistance’ showing that local authorities, allied with civil society, can protect the ‘small circles of freedom’.

“The Congress continues to follow closely the situation of human rights of LGBTIQ+ persons at local level in Europe and has conducted this week a study visit to Poland which brought together public authorities, NGOs, and activists. A report on freedom of speech and assembly of LGBTI persons will be debated at a forthcoming Congress session,” stated President Cools.