So-called LGBT-free zones in Poland violate the principle of non-discrimination in EU cohesion policy
9.7.2021
Question for written answer E-003512/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Monika Vana (Verts/ALE), Terry Reintke (Verts/ALE), Sylwia Spurek (Verts/ALE), Niklas Nienaß (Verts/ALE), Alexandra Geese (Verts/ALE), Rasmus Andresen (Verts/ALE), Dietmar Köster (S&D), Grace O'Sullivan (Verts/ALE), Diana Riba i Giner (Verts/ALE), Saskia Bricmont (Verts/ALE), Chrysoula Zacharopoulou (Renew), Manuel Bompard (The Left), Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Verts/ALE), Hilde Vautmans (Renew), Olivier Chastel (Renew), Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D), Robert Biedroń (S&D), Rosa D'Amato (Verts/ALE), Sara Matthieu (Verts/ALE), Francisco Guerreiro (Verts/ALE), Erik Marquardt (Verts/ALE), Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (Verts/ALE), Margrete Auken (Verts/ALE), Markéta Gregorová (Verts/ALE), Pernando Barrena Arza (The Left), Marc Angel (S&D), Sandro Gozi (Renew), Sirpa Pietikäinen (PPE), Hannah Neumann (Verts/ALE), Sarah Wiener (Verts/ALE), Radka Maxová (S&D), Giuliano Pisapia (S&D), Vera Tax (S&D), Malin Björk (The Left), Sándor Rónai (S&D), Alice Kuhnke (Verts/ALE), Eleonora Evi (Verts/ALE), Karen Melchior (Renew), Ciarán Cuffe (Verts/ALE), Pina Picierno (S&D), Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana (Verts/ALE), Piernicola Pedicini (Verts/ALE), Pierre Karleskind (Renew), Valérie Hayer (Renew), Ville Niinistö (Verts/ALE)
By June 2020, some 100 Polish municipalities, regions and voivodships had adopted ‘anti-LGBT resolutions’ and Family Rights Charters, also popularly known as ‘LGBT-free zones’. In its reaction in July 2020, the Commission refused funding to six of them under the EU’s town twinning scheme, on the grounds of discrimination and the violation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, resulting in breaches of the rules and principles governing EU funding.
Faced with the threat of losing significant amounts of EU (and Norwegian) funding, several of these municipalities repealed their ‘anti-LGBT resolutions’, while strong opposition against the LGBTI community prevails.
- 1.Does the Commission intend to make resources under cohesion policy available to the municipalities that have withdrawn their resolutions and to refuse payments to the municipalities that have kept them?
- 2.How does the Commission intend to apply the enabling condition on respect for fundamental rights as set out in the Commons Provisions Regulation 2021-2027 in the context of documented discrimination against LGBTI people in Poland?
- 3.What further action will the Commission take to ensure a funding environment for cohesion policy in Poland that fully respects fundamental rights and provides effective protection to LGBTI people against discrimination?