The municipalities that have declared themselves ‘LGBT-free zones’ will not receive funding from the Norwegian funds. For Kraśnik alone, this means a loss of €3-10 million
“Kraśnik and the municipalities with similar declarations have not received project support in the current funding period and will not receive such support as long as these declarations are valid. This also applies to all institutions under the control of municipal authorities,” Ine Eriksen Soreide, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said. referring to Polish "LGBT-free zones".
Her position was published on September 14 on the website of the Norwegian parliament. It was a response to questions from MP and former minister Anniken Huitfeldt about granting funds to municipalities that adopted resolutions on "LGBT-free zones". These are funds from the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism (EEA Funds), i.e. the so-called Norwegian funds. They consist of funds that Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, in return for their participation in the common EU area, transfer to EU countries in non-refundable way as a form of development aid. Poland is their greatest beneficiary.
“Such declarations are not in line with the values on which European cooperation is based. There are also indications that they violate the European Convention on Human Rights. LGBT people are entitled to the same protection against violations of their personal rights and freedoms as all other European citizens,” the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs explained.
The first "LGBT-free" zone was established in March 2019 by the councilors of Świdnik (Lublin Voivodeship). Since then, 105 local government units have adopted similar resolutions. They include communes, poviats and five voivodships: Lubelskie, Łódzkie, Małopolskie, Podkarpackie and Świętokrzyskie. Some of them in the form of extremely homophobic resolutions against LGBT ideology, others in the form of the ‘Local Government Bill of Family Rights created by the lawyers of the fundamentalist foundation Ordo Iuris.