European Union in April 2026: the most important developments in society
In April 2026 the most prominent social issue in the European Union was a court ruling on Hungary. On 21 April the European Court of Justice found that Hungary's 2021 law banning the portrayal of LGBTQ+ content to minors violates EU fundamental rights and values, describing it as discriminatory and contrary to human dignity and freedom of expression. Allies of the Hungarian government called the ruling a "Brussels occupation". Earlier in the month, on 15 April, human rights groups urged the EU to act over a proposed constitutional amendment on the family in Lithuania, warning it could discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.
The protection of children online was the second theme. On 15 April Brussels announced that an EU-wide age verification system was ready, and an app to verify users' ages was launched the following day. On 21 April the EU said it would add measures against addictive design features such as infinite scroll and autoplay. On 10 April Google, Meta, Snap and Microsoft criticised the EU over the lapse of the child sexual abuse law.
Migration formed a third theme. EU lawmakers clashed over migrant return hubs, and a study published on 22 April put the number of immigrants living in the EU at a record 64.2 million in 2025, an increase of 60 percent since 2010. An EU Commissioner reported a sharp rise in deportations, and the EU told Greece to investigate allegations of migrant pushbacks. Hungary said it had stopped one million illegal migrants.
Other items included the EU giving away more than 40,000 free Interrail passes to young people, the German foreign minister calling the EU's equal pay directive "ideologically motivated", the UN and EU estimating that more than $71 billion would be needed over the next decade to rebuild Gaza, and a petition of one million signatures on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict submitted to the European Commission on 15 April.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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