Defining the European Way of Life: Equality-Related Value Backsliding and Article 2 TEU after Commission v Hungary

While democratic backsliding in the European Union is predominantly analysed through the lens of the rule of law, equality-related attacks on gender have received considerably less attention within debates on Article 2 TEU enforcement. This paper argues that the CJEU’s judgment in Commission v Hungary (C-769/22) marks a turning point in that regard. By recognising a self-standing and “manifest and particularly serious” breach of Article 2 TEU in relation to Hungary’s anti-LGBTIQ “Propaganda Law,” the Court brings equality-related value backsliding within the scope of EU constitutional adjudication. The paper shows how the judgment reconfigures the relationship between European values, national identity and democratic backsliding, and argues that it establishes judicially enforceable constitutional “red lines” against the negation of equality, respect for human dignity, and for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.