WARSAW – The European Commission has written to five Polish regional councils urging them to abandon declarations that they are “LGBT-free” to receive funding, one of the councils affected confirmed on Monday.
The European Union (EU) executive is at loggerheads with Poland and Hungary over issues ranging from LGBT rights to press freedoms. In July, it launched legal action against both countries over measures it says discriminate against the gay community.
“The Commission would like to stress that declaring LGBTIQ- free/unwelcome territories, workplace or services constitutes an action that is against the values set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union,” the letter said.
It added that extra funding under part of the bloc’s coronavirus disease 2019 recovery fund would be put on hold pending the regions’ responses to the Commission’s concerns.(Reuters)
