Poland: EU funding withheld from six Polish towns over 'LGBT-free' zones

The European Union has rejected grants under a twinning programme to six Polish cities because of their attitude to the LGBTQ community. The announcement was confirmed on Twitter by the EU's Equality Commissioner, Helena Dalli.

"EU values and fundamental rights must be respected by member states and public authorities," Helena Dalli said on Tuesday. “This is why six town twinning applications involving Polish authorities that adopted ‘LGBTI free zones’ or ‘family rights’ resolutions were rejected.”

It is unclear which towns have not been selected for grants.

The cities and municipalities had applied for a grant between €5,000 and €25,000 under the twinning programme of the Europe for Citizens project, which aims to stimulate debate and civic participation on EU policies.

Applications for 127 cities and projects — eight Polish beneficiaries — were selected by the EU for a total grant value of more than €2.3 million.

"The call for proposals for the twinning programme stipulates that it must be accessible to all European citizens without any form of discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation," a Commission spokesman told AFP News Agency on Wednesday.

Those applications that were rejected on the basis of not being in line with the programme's objectives of "equal access and non-discrimination". Read more via Euronews