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Thank you very much, Commissioner Nabi for your inspiring and encouraging,

words, and we open the floor for, questions.

Let me see if they are here in the room, any.

Well, you raised this code of good conduct, er if I've understood correctly,

against er hate speech online signed up to by the large platforms. I mean, is it voluntary?

Are there sanctions if the code isn't respected and if er hate speech isn't withdrawn quickly enough? Thank you very much.

Well, we're currently working with Commissioner McGrath, who's responsible for justice and the rule of law,

and we're working on legislation that would deal with The fight against hate speech.

We already have a directive from 2021.

2021, excuse me, and which Unanimity was not found on,

so we're fighting online hate speech because er online hate speech is the most widespread kind.

And it's something that's aimed at people at risk, women as well.

They're the main victims of violence online and also minorities such as er LGBTIQ plus communities.

In order To adopt legislation on hate speech online.

You only need a qualified majority and so it'll be easier

to get that qualified majority and get that legislation through council.

So it's important to work on that, but I think it's a bit early to talk about which

stakeholders are gonna be which platforms are going to be involved and how we're going to sanction them, etc. I mean, it is important work. We didn't manage it.

When it came to hate speech in general, we couldn't get standard rules across the European Union.

Every member state does things in their own way at the moment.

So we need to work on this union of equality that we all want to see.

We want to see more consistency and so this is work that is currently getting underway. Thank you.

Yes, I wanted to know the 3.6 billion that are budgeted.

For this type of engagement, how will they be, disbursed, to whom, to what association, and also I would like to know the European Union,

because we are going backwards as you say now what can be done like 2 years ago

probably here there would be many more people in the room and now, I'll give you an example.

In Italy yesterday, Well, I was very shocked, but for the first time in many years,

we had a sign on the street where were they

marketing a chicken breast with the breast of a woman.

Now, this hasn't happened in years, but now there is a proposal of law on the table where they want to

change the law and allow all type of sexual ads

also along the roads as it used to be decades ago.

So this is clearly going back this is for the women, but it is also true for LGBTQ community.

So for me when I'm asking about money,

I'm also asking about what in concrete can be done to stop this this trend,

new trend.

Can you just present yourself and the media you represent? I'm so sorry.

I'm Federica Bianchi from Italy's magazine D L'Espresso. Yes, first of all, the funding.

This is a proposal from the Commission for the next MFF.

We are more doubling the budget of the SERF program.

Within the new agora EU funding, so it is an important sign that we launch to the

Member States that although there is a clear backlash,

regression, the Commission and the Union are committed.

To stay this lighthouse of hope and also a union of equality.

You know, I always say that we are still many countries and

many citizens who their dream is to be part of the Union.

And why do they dream to be part of the Union?

Because of the values, because of the freedom that we are experiencing here, you know,

this is more than a market here and so it means that we need to stand firm.

On our values and to defend it and why we adopt this,

why we're doubling the fact that we are doubling the budget is a clear sign.

We said to the member states, look, there is a trend which is dangerous and we are against completely against,

and we will reinforce the civil society.

We will reinforce all the equality bodies also.

We shouldn't forget that we are also working to reinforce the human resources,

the funding, the independence of equality body.

We are also going to launch recommendations to collect equality data to be

sure that all legislation is shaped and rely on the reality on the ground.

We need for that comparable and reliable data, and for the moment we don't have this,

and that's a series of measures that we put into place to

reinforce civil society and when we have this initiative, the civil society.

The initiative with the signatures of 1 million citizens asking to ban conversion practices.

This is a strong signal, and the Commission is taking it very seriously,

and that's why I'm also endorsed. It was in my mission.

To combat, to find ways to combat this underground practices,

but we don't have a clear view for the moment. What is this conversion practices about. It is therapy, it's psychological support.

It's disguised like this for for sometimes, you know,

and so we know that 8 countries have banned conversion practice and maybe soon 9. The Netherlands is following.

But we are going to conduct, yes, to record all to collect all the information

and to to have that done to shape the best way to combat these conversion practices.

I I don't, I know that I'm not answering specifically to your question,

but it's a series of measures that are,

you know, only reinforcing the fight against discrimination.

And it's against LGBTIQ plus people, but it's also against, yes, women,

sometimes to protect the violence, women from violence and from discrimination as well.

And this is a clear example of, you know, violence that you just said.

I feel that this is a kind of violence, you know, everyday violence and discrimination and also stereotypes.

That we need to combat that AI all this, you know, is, is a real threat that we need to have.

That's why we need a code of conduct with the big

platforms and we are working with also Commissioner Virkkunen on that. I, I, we just adopted.

Yesterday we were discussing on AI and how to involve the equality dimension and it's very,

very present.

We all agree in the Commission and this is a good sign also because the Commission is

also representing all the member states and I

can assure you that there will no Difficult discussions.

We took on board all the remarks made by the different commissioners,

but following their portfolio, and it was a very good discussion.

Thank you indeed, Commissioner, just after this press conference we will then have a press conference with EVP Vierkunen precisely on the AI package,

so it, it follows well from this one.

Now I would like to also inform you because we had a

finalization written procedure and so the documents were formally adopted 25 minutes ago. You can find now the communication.

On the LGBTIQ plus strategy along with the press material online,

so they are available and we have some questions online, Roland Mas. Good morning. My name is Ronca with Nipsova.

I hope you can see me and hear me.

I have a question regarding Hungary, and my camera is a bit up yet, because the Hungarian government has been very vocal that they don't want to protect,

they don't want to empower, and they don't want to engage when it comes with the LGBT. Plus people.

So how is it going to work, for example, in those countries and what does this strategy mean, for example,

a young trans person from from page when they are feeling discrimination on a daily basis

and when the state which is actually is supposed to protect them is not protecting them.

And the EU seems far away for them.

So what exactly does it mean in practice?

And on a similar note, we are all waiting for the court judgment on the on the Hungarian child protection law,

but it's very likely that the Hungarian government will just ignore this.

So how are you prepared to step up in that case if they will just ignore and don't care about the court ruling? Thank you.

So when it comes to Hungary, you know that we referred Hungary to the European Court of Justice over national

rules that discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation

and gender identity and the so called child protection law.

The Advocate General recently expressed his opinion and agreed with the Commission that the

law breaches the Charter of Fundamental Rights and that Hungary has infringed on EU values.

It is important to wait for the final decision,

which we hope will confirm the Commission's stance.

Concerning the assembly law, I'm working closely with Commissioner McGrath, who is responsible for this dossier,

and the Commission asked the Hungarian authorities to clarify the clarification on the legal framework.

We are now assessing the Hungarian reply and On that point, we want to make sure that we get the legal basis right,

and the Commission will not hesitate to take further action, as we have done in the past.

For now, we have more than 10 infringement procedures that are currently active against Hungary and On fundamental rights, non-discrimination and rule of law,

such as breaching the Racial Equality Directive, the Employment Equality Directive,

and the EU's whistleblower Directive,

we have also kept 18 billion of funding. This is also a major tool.

I mean the budget, the funding that normally goes to Hungary.

For the next MFF, we have proposed that this money, when this money is frozen,

we are not going to freeze it for the end of time,

we are going to redistribute it through the SEF program. To civil society.

This is a big step because we don't want to punish the citizens for the actions decided by their governments when they are infringing the rule of law and our values,

and so this is a strong signal again that the Commission is launching to the government. We have further questions online. Ann Ramsay. There. You can see and hear me. Am I on the side?

Let me try and sort that out. There we go.

Thank you very much, Commissioner Ann Ramsay from Bloomberg.

Do you, at any point see, I know it's not in the strategy, but,

an EU-wide, ban on conversion practices being possible, being something that could happen.

And if I may, a second question.

Part of the strategy is about promoting rights around the world.

What can the EU do amid what is something of a global backlash,

particularly in the United States? Thank you very much.

Yeah, our strategy is worldwide, but first we are concentrate, of course, on all Member States.

But when it comes to the rest of the world, you know, our partnerships also through our partnership,

we are also paying attention, of course,

of the respect for values and democracies, and currently we are also.

Busy with we're trying to extend our relationships. We have partnerships. All across the world.

The United States, for example, are starting to show signs of instability, let's say, and so we've seen that those who shared our values yesterday, who are our main allies could At some point become not our enemies, I wouldn't say that,

but they can become more unstable partners and so we're developing new partnerships with India, with the Mercosur countries, Latin America,

and every time we do that,

we raise the issue of respecting our democratic values and our values of diversity, inclusion, etc. And all of that.

Is part of our economic and trade partnerships. Thank you. Two final questions. Louise now, Louise Guillot please.

Legislative I have already partially answered this question.

We have about a dozen infraction procedures open against Hungary.

We will of course continue, not hesitate to. Multiply these cases.

There are, of course, all of the conditionalities, budget funds that are. So we call it frozen.

I mentioned 10 billion in cohesion funds.

Of recovery of the recovery and resilience facility,

which should have been allocated to Hungary, and they are still blocked.

Now you could say this has no impact, but.

18 billion actually, says the speaker, do have an impact.

The EU is a union of values.

And it's also about Doing this out of your own will.

No country is forced to join the EU.

This is a union that started by signing up to the fundamental charter of the EU and its treaties.

So if now we see that in some countries, things are going backwards,

then it's our duty to Put up a warning sign and

say we will not allowed you to have access to funding.

We will bring cases before the European Court of Justice, and if your NGOs, civil society,

and organizations, well, we will help them in the,

in fighting these decisions taken by the government. Now I think this is important.

There are, as I said, many open procedures.

There's also citizens initiatives such as what I received.

Last week in my office for having access to legal and safe abortion.

There's some that I will certainly be finding next week on my desk

at the beginning of November regarding the fight against these conversion conversion practices. We receive all of these requests. We open the debates in parliament.

I think the, the, the union starts with advocacy work, advocacy for rule of law, for our rights,

so that everyone can have the same rights and the same access to freedom of expression.

So what final question because we are already running over into the next press conference. So Joanna Gray. Thank you, Commissioner. Joanna Gray from Thomson Reuters Foundation.

I'd like to know, the legal definitions, in EU law is quite strong around the grounds of sexual orientation.

And one of the criticisms of the previous strategy is that, this was solely on grounds of sexual orientation.

What's in the new strategy to, grant protections on grounds of, gender identity and sex characteristics?

Mr President, sexual orientation and all these topics are Member States' competence. We shouldn't forget. That's why it's so difficult.

It's true, but they are part of the Union, so we need to show them the way and to push for more equality,

and for that we have all these strategies, we have all these recommendations.

And also the fact that any kind of discrimination

is at the highest level combating in our Union.

So we need to ensure that there is no discrimination within our Union,

and for that we have a high level group on non discrimination.

In every Member State and in this high level group, we have a subgroup working on combating any kind of discrimination against LGBTIQ people and also trans people and so on,

and that's why we have Attention on the conversion practices because the survey we conveyed showed that 55% of the transgender people have experienced conversion practices,

which is really harmful and that's why we pay specific attention to this point.

With this, we conclude this press conference.

Thank you very much, Commissioner Sarbib, for your presence and your presentation.

Thank you for your questions and interest,

and bear with us just for one minute while

we thank Commissioner Sarbib and then invite EVP Vierkunen.

Thank you.