Is Wokism One of the European Union's Values?

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled against Hungary for failing to uphold the values of the European Union. At issue is the law protecting minors from “wokism.” With this decision, the CJEU has positioned itself as the arbiter of national laws and constitutional identities based on a highly ideological interpretation of European values.

European Union against Hungary: European Commission v. Hungary, Case C-769/22, 21 April 2026.

The values of the European Union (EU) are set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (EU Treaty): "human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities." It was, inter alia, on the basis of this provision that on December 19, 2022, the European Commission brought infringement proceedings against Hungary before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The European Commission was supported in these proceedings by 16 Member States.

The contested Hungarian legislation prohibits exposing children to content that normalizes certain practices, such as transgenderism, sex change, or homosexuality. Thus, according to Paragraph 6/A of the Law on the Protection of Children: “in order . . . to ensure the protection of children’s rights, making the following available to [them] shall be prohibited: pornography, as well as content that depicts sexuality for its own purposes, or that promotes or portrays deviation from the self-identity corresponding to the sex assigned at birth, gender reassignment, or homosexuality.” Other Hungarian laws contain similar provisions, in particular the Law on Media Services, the Law on Commercial Advertising, and the Law on Public Education.

These provisions were held to be contrary to EU law by the CJEU in its judgment of April 21, 2026, delivered in Full Court, that is, the Court’s most solemn formation. This judgment therefore has significant legal implications, including in the future, and raises at least two major issues. The first concerns the relationship between EU law and national law, including constitutional law; the second relates to the questionable interpretation of EU values by the judges. This development also provides insight into the relationship between EU institutions and the future Hungarian government led by Péter Magyar.

Disregard for Hungarian national and constitutional identity

Before the Court, Hungary had argued that its legislation is based on its national and constitutional identity. Indeed, Article XVI § 1 of the Basic Law of Hungary protects “children’s right to self-identity according to their birth sex, and shall ensure education according to the value system based on our country’s constitutional self-identity and Christian culture.” In that regard, Article 4(2) of the EU Treaty provides that “the Union shall respect the equality of Member States before the Treaties as well as their national identities, inherent in their fundamental structures, political and constitutional.” The CJEU dismissed the Hungarian government’s argument, stating that “Article 4(2) TEU protects only a view of the national identities . . . which is consistent with the [EU] values” (§ 562).

These EU values are general, even abstract, yet the CJEU derives concrete legal consequences from them. It has even, for the first time, elevated them to an autonomous legal basis for reviewing the compatibility of national legislation with EU law. These values alone may therefore lead European judges to declare national legislation contrary to the TEU.

This development in the case law was far from self-evident. First, other provisions of EU law would have sufficed to conclude that the Hungarian legislation was incompatible with EU law. It was therefore not necessary to develop a separate line of reasoning based on EU values to condemn the Hungarian legislation. Second, a “value” usually refers to a source of inspiration or an objective to be achieved. It differs from a principle, which is binding as a legal norm.

By developing reasoning based on EU values, European judges are sending a message across Europe. The CJEU sets itself up as the guardian of these moral values, which it interprets and may use to assess national laws and constitutions. It is not merely a court, but exercises a form of supra-constitutional and moral authority. The Court grants itself the power to judge any legislation based on a choice of values – that is, a political choice.

A judgment and language based on woke ideology

According to the judgment in European Commission v. Hungary, the Hungarian legislation “results in the stigmatisation and marginalisation of non-cisgender or non-heterosexual persons, solely on the ground of their gender identity or sexual orientation,” which “is tantamount to establishing, maintaining or reinforcing the social ‘invisibility’ of some members of society” (§§ 554–555). This is the first time that the CJEU has used such woke terminology, even though it has no legal basis. Majority, normality, and nature thus become categories among others, creating false equivalences.

Thus, the CJEU compels Member States to allow content that normalizes among children transgenderism, sex change, and homosexuality, on the basis of EU values. Such a woke judgment, if it had been published before the Hungarian parliamentary elections, would probably have favored Viktor Orbán’s electoral campaign. Although these are the final days of his term as Prime Minister, he made it clear that his government will not comply with this CJEU ruling.

His successor, Péter Magyar, who will be sworn in as Prime Minister on May 9, 2026, intends to comply with the CJEU ruling. He plans to repeal the contested legislation and to “make a country where no one is stigmatized because they love differently, or love in a different way than the majority.” Hungarian children will no longer benefit from legal protection against woke propaganda and may be exposed to the same readings and performances as in certain European public schools and libraries.