The EC strongly on the so-called LGBT-free zones. “Not one euro from the EU will finance this”

Polish cities that introduce the so-called LGBT-free zones cannot count on co-financing from EU funds. – EU values ​​and fundamental rights must be respected by the Member States – said the EU Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli in 2020.

the European Commission explicitly. “Not a single euro from the European Union will finance ‘LGBT-free zones’ in Poland”

French MEP Pierre Karleskind announced on social media that Poland would not receive funding for “LGBT-free zones” from the European Union. “It’s already confirmed! Not one euro from the European Union will finance ‘LGBT-free zones’ in Poland In the letter, the European Commission confirmed: no EU money without respect for EU values,” the MEP wrote on Twitter.

In the letter of the MEP to two commissioners, we can read that “allowing the flow of money in voivodeships, poviats and municipalities (where there are ‘LGBT-free zones’ – ed.) is too much of a threat to the fundamental values ​​of the EU, because there is a high risk that this money will be managed in a way that does not comply with the regulations, e.g. about anti-discrimination“.

Karleskind asked for a written assurance that EU money would not go to such regions in Poland. In response, Elisa Ferreira, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, and Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, wrote back, inter alia, that “the values ​​of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including persons belonging to minorities are the foundation of the European Union. As underlined, all Member States must respect the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Poland has committed to introducing an anti-discrimination clause

Importantly, the letter emphasized that Polish authorities have committed to include an anti-discrimination clause in their 2021-2027 partnership agreement. It reads: “Support under the cohesion policy will be provided only to projects and beneficiaries that meet the anti-discrimination provisions referred to in Article 9(3) of Regulation No. 2021/1060 of the European Parliament and of the Council. If the beneficiary is a local government unit (or controlled or dependent by it) who has taken any discriminatory action contrary to the rules, support under the cohesion policy cannot be granted.

The name of the resolutions adopted by local governments in Poland is not literally “LGBT-free”. But this is only a matter of naming – it is true that almost a hundred Polish local governments, as a result of the action launched by PiS local government officials, have since 2019 adopted declarations that more or less openly advocate discrimination or even demand discrimination against non-heterosexual people. Their full list can be found at atlasnienawisci.pl. They differ in content – sometimes they have the form of support for the “traditional family”, and other times – support for the words of Archbishop Jędraszewski, who spoke about the “rainbow plague”. They also take the form of opposition to “sex education in the spirit of gender ideology” (Białystok poviat). It is crucial that during the debates on the adoption of these resolutions in local governments, it was not hidden at all that they were aimed at the LGBT community. Last year, the Love Does Not Exclude Association made available recordings from county councils, cities and assemblies that debated the adoption of the so-called anti-LGBT resolutions and Local Government Family Rights Charters. You can hear homophobic statements of Polish local government officials on them. There are slogans about “spreading the ideology of ordinary perversion” and “external forces”.

In some cases, councilors declared that they were adopting resolutions because they wanted to defend the education system “against LGBT propaganda that threatens the proper development of the young generation” (this was the case, among others, in the Małopolska regional assembly). It was also pointed out that “this is not about people, and the unspecified ‘LGBT ideology’ violates fundamental freedoms and rights.”