Orbán: Government initiates child protection referendum – UPDATED
The government has decided to initiate a referendum concerning issues around child protection, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on Wednesday.
In a video posted on Facebook, Orbán said that “Brussels has clearly attacked Hungary” over the country’s recent child protection law.
“Our children’s future is at stake and we cannot make concessions in this case,” Orban said, and insisted that “when pressure on our country is this strong, Hungary could only be protected by the common will of the people”.
The questions for the planned referendum are as follows:
Do you support that minors should attend school classes on the topic of sexual orientations without parental consent?
Do you support promoting gender change treatments among minors?
Do you support that gender reassignment surgery should be available to minors?
Do you support that media content influencing sexual development should be presented to minors without restriction?
Do you support that media content depicting gender change should be presented to minors?
The prime minister called on voters to say no to all those questions and “stop Brussels” just like in 2016, when “Brussels wanted to force migrants onto Hungary”.
UPDATE
The referendum bid was submitted to the National Election Committee later on Wednesday, which will now have 60 days to assess the questions. The committee will approve the bid if the subject comes under the purview of parliament, if the questions do not touch on fields such as the budget or international treaties, and if they are worded clearly enough for the purpose.
The committee’s decision can be appealed within 15 days after release.
Source: MTI