A growing body of case law suggests that the CJEU, often relying on expansive interpretations of existing legal instruments such as the GDPR, non-discrimination law, and EU citizenship provisions, is playing an increasingly assertive role in redefining sensitive social and cultural issues. Landmark judgments concerning the legal recognition of gender identity, the cross-border recognition of same-sex marriages and “rainbow families,” and the use of gender-neutral language in official documents have raised fundamental questions about the limits of judicial interpretation, the principle of conferral, and the balance between EU competences and national constitutional identity.

Recent developments in several Member States illustrate these tensions particularly clearly. Judicial and political debates in Poland surrounding the recognition of same-sex marriage in late 2025, constitutional disputes in Hungary, Romania, and Germany, as well as litigation related to media regulation and freedom of expression, all point to a broader phenomenon: the growing judicialization of ideological and cultural conflicts within the European Union. 

Against this backdrop, Hungary’s legal challenge to the European Media Freedom Act represents a significant and emblematic case. It highlights how courts are increasingly used as instruments to advance contested normative agendas, and how legal mechanisms are becoming central to disputes over sovereignty, democratic legitimacy, and the future direction of European integration.

This high-level panel discussion seeks to examine whether European courts—national and supranational alike—are becoming key drivers of ideological change in areas traditionally reserved to Member States. Bringing together judges, legal scholars, and policy experts, the event will explore the causes, legal arguments, and long-term consequences of Europe’s deepening value conflicts. 

The event will be held in English. 

Program: 

9:30 – Opening Remarks 

Zoltán Szalai , Director General of Mathias Corvinus Collegium 

András Zs. Varga, President of the Curia, Professor at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University 

09:45 – Panel Discussion: Courts at the Forefront of Europe’s Value Conflicts

Martin Mendelski, Researcher at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas 

András Osztovits, Professor and Head of the EU Law Department at the Károli Gáspár University 

András Tóth, President of the Central European Lawyers Initiative, Associate Professor and Head of the Digital and Technology Law Department at the Károli Gáspár University 

Rodrigo Ballester, Head of the Center for European Studies, Mathias Corvinus Collegium 

Moderator: Yann Caspar, Researcher at the Center for European Studies, Mathias Corvinus Collegium 

11:20 – Closing Remarks 

János Bóka, Minister for European Union Affairs of Hungary